Green Communities Canada and Canadian Trees for Life have received a Clean50 Top Project Award for their co-funding of urban planting projects across the country through the Living Cities Canada Fund.
The Clean50 Top Project Awards celebrate Canada’s Sustainability Heroes. These awards recognize projects that are accelerating collaboration towards a job-rich, cleaner, healthier, innovation based low-carbon economy, supporting all Canadians.
The Living Cities Canada Fund is recognized as a Clean50 Top Project for its remarkable cumulative and enduring impact in communities across Canada. The Living Cities Canada Fund advances green infrastructure in communities across the country. The goal of the fund is to grow communities from coast to coast where green infrastructure— tree-lined streets and parks, mini forests, wetlands, and rain gardens—is equitable, abundant, and thriving. Since 2024, the fund has supported 150 projects, 43,500 plantings, 12,500 volunteers, and redirected $1.3 million to community hands.
In 2025 and 2026 the fund grew substantially, thanks to partnership with Canadian Trees for Life. In 2026 alone the partnership has nearly tripled in size, planting more than 5,000 trees and 16,000 locally native plant species through 27 community-led projects in 21 cities and six provinces across the country. Read more about the 2026 projects here.
“We are grateful for this recognition,” said Brianna Salmon, Executive Director of Green Communities Canada. “But the numbers alone are only one small part of the story of the Living Cities Canada Fund. The more enduring impact is that communities get to decide what their own blocks look like and they get access to a network of grassroots groups who know how to write a green infrastructure policy, run a planting day, and keep the resulting trees alive. That’s how Living Cities Canada grows longer term capacity for change that tends to outlast any single grant cycle.”
“We’re thrilled to receive a Clean50 Top Project Award for this partnership and our work creating a happier, healthier Canada,” said Marina Dimitriadis, Executive Director of Trees For Life. “Trees do not become a forest overnight. Likewise, empowering communities across Canada to plant native trees where they live, work, and play is one of the most accessible long-term strategies for combating the impacts of a warming planet. This partnership allows us to support and train residents to transform their neighbourhoods, empowering them to be the experts on the needs and futures of their communities.”
Intake will open in November for applications to the 2027 Living Cities Canada Fund. Watch this page for information and/or subscribe to be notified by email.