Grow Urban Tree Planting

Giving Tuesday: Helping Downtown’s Tree Canopy Take Root

Trees are nature’s gift that keeps on giving. Aside from beautifying our surroundings, trees provide shade during hot days and improve the overall health of our local ecosystem and environment. The benefits of trees are countless, and we feel it is important to do our part to help expand the City of San Diego’s urban canopy.

Earlier this month, we provided the Downtown San Diego Partnership (DSDP) and Urban Interventions with a $10,000 grant to match donations from their Grow Urban initiative, a program focused on planting trees and helping the downtown tree canopy thrive. The grant will help double the impact of donations received during Giving Tuesday and throughout the first week of December. For every $700 that is donated to the initiative, a large 36” box tree will be purchased and planted in the urban corridor. Additionally, DSDP’s Clean and Safe program will help provide funds for the ongoing maintenance and watering of the trees.  

To celebrate the Grow Urban initiative, DSDP will be hosting San Diego #GivingDowntownDay, a tree planting and neighborhood clean-up event, on Tuesday, Dec. 3. Beginning at 9:30 a.m. at Horton Plaza Park, the event will offer attendees the opportunity to volunteer their time and/or make a financial contribution to the planting of trees in Downtown San Diego. To learn more about the initiative and how you can help the tree planting movement, please visit DSDP’s Grow Urban webpage.  

Commitment to a Healthier Environment

At SDG&E, we are committed to supporting the planting of trees in our region and enhancing the overall health of our environment. Trees not only benefit the local surroundings, they improve air quality and flight climate change by absorbing greenhouse gas emissions. As part of our charitable initiatives, we partner with multiple organizations in the region, including the Balboa Park Conservancy and Tree San Diego, to help plant and fund tree planting throughout the region.

How You Can Get Involved

Even if you can’t make it to the #GivingTuesday planting event at Horton Plaza, there is a way for you to get involved in the tree planting movement through our “Go Paperless, Plant Trees” campaign.

For every customer that signs up for paperless billing, we will donate $10 to one of three organizations (Urban Corps of San Diego, Nature Collective or Tree San Diego) for tree planting or tree stewardship education. To learn more, please visit sdge.com/tree.