NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the government would add to the city’s trees at a rate of 380,000 native trees a year, eventually more than doubling the city’s tree canopy cover from the current 16.8 percent.

The government will also give away 15,000 trees a year to people living in new land release areas in Western Sydney.

“With more people putting down roots in our suburbs, this tremendous initiative will improve everyone’s quality of life,” Berejiklian said. “Sydney is growing, but growth should not come at a cost to the environment or local amenity.”

The announcement of the tree-planting program comes after the premier revealed a $290 million spending package for Sydney’s parks and open spaces. Of this, $100 million will be used to “secure strategic green space.”

NSW planning minister, Anthony Roberts, said, “Planting more trees will contribute to the lowering of urban heat in Sydney and improve the environment for pedestrians at street level.”

The announcement also follows the publication of a draft version of Greener Places, NSW’s first state-wide green infrastructure policy.

The policy, authored by GANSW, argues that green spaces should be understood, developed and managed as a networked piece of infrastructure, rather than as a collection of discrete objects.