Free trees on offer at Copenhagen Municipality

After a two-year hiatus, the initiative is back, allowing citizens to obtain trees for free, so long as they care for them and nurture them

Following a two-year-long hiatus, an initiative by Copenhagen Municipality allowing citizens to get trees for free, has returned. The goal of the project is to enhance the city’s greenery, beautify it and, of course, make it more environmentally friendly.

Making sure that every household can go green

The initiative called “Partnership Trees” was first introduced in 2016 by the Copenhagen Technical and Environmental Administration. It allowed for private citizens from around the Danish capital to get one or more trees free of charge, so long as they care for them and nurture them and provided that they can be seen by everyone and contribute to the greening of the city.

Many citizens jumped at the opportunity. Cooperation agreements were entered into with homeowners, cooperatives and owners' associations, housing associations, landowners' associations and allotment garden owners, and a total of 1517 trees were planted in a number of Copenhagen’s districts in the following years.

In 2018, however, the Partnership Tree project was put on hold due to Denmark’s construction ceiling. But amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to reboot the economy, the construction ceiling was lifted. Thus, Copenhagen Municipality has chosen to restart the project and will once again give citizens the opportunity to adopt one or more trees for their gardens.

All citizens, housing associations, housing organizations and businesses in Copenhagen are eligible to apply for a tree if they have a private area in the City where they could plant it. But it is worth noting that the initiative functions at a first come first served basis, as you can only become a tree partner as long as trees remain in the pool. The only catch is that if the tree is to stand in a private garden, it must therefore be no more than 10 meters from a public area so that the tree's crown is visible to other citizens and passers-by.