Trees provide shade on hot summer days and block the wind on cold winter nights, saving you from cranking up your air conditioner or heat. That leads to lower monthly energy bills — 7% lower than places that have few trees, according to the United States Forest Service.

The TREES Act, introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020, would create a new federal program to plant at least 300,000 trees a year, mainly in underserved urban communities where trees are often sparse.

Trees are critical life-saving infrastructure that improve air quality, combat heat islands and extreme weather conditions and create healthier communities. The legislation is essential to creating Tree Equity across America, which means ensuring that all people benefit from what trees offer.

As a result of the minimal tree cover in lower-income urban communities, which are often communities of color, those who have the hardest time affording to cool and heat their homes also have relatively high energy bills. Trees planted through this program would also help mitigate climate change and absorb pollutants that are harmful to people with respiratory illnesses. They also provide tremendous economic benefits, including increased property values and reduced energy use for cooling and heating by 7.2% nationally, saving consumers more than $7 billion.

The new federal program created by the TREES Act would be administered by the U.S. Department of Energy and funded at $50 million annually through 2026. That funding would be distributed in the form of grants to nongovernmental organizations; utility companies; and local, state and tribal governments. They would plant the trees, on public and private land. The bill was introduced by senators Booker (D-NJ) and Capito (R-WV) and representatives Matsui (D-CA), McKinley (R-WV), Cleaver (D-MO), Fortenberry (R-NE) and Sarbanes (D-MD).