{
  "abstract": "Urban greening is widely prioritized as a nature-based solution to mitigating intensifying heat extremes in the context of climate change, yet its long-term global efficacy remains inadequately quantified. Here we present a two-decade assessment of vegetation dynamics and associated cooling effects across 3,806 urban clusters worldwide, integrating multisource satellite observations with ground measurements from 4,855 meteorological stations. We identify a pronounced climate equity gap: While cities in the Global North have largely expanded green infrastructure, they exhibit cooling saturation with diminishing biophysical returns. Conversely, most cities in the Global South show vegetation stagnation or loss, compounding rapid warming trends. This asymmetry exposes a critical climate justice challenge, indicating that current greening efforts are insufficient to offset a warming trend. Our findings underscore the necessity for context-specific, integrated climate adaptation frameworks that address both the quantity and quality of urban vegetation to achieve equitable thermal resilience in an increasingly warm world.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "State Key Laboratory of Regional and Urban Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China",
    "University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China",
    "School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia",
    "Forest and Climate Change Program, Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, NY 10460",
    "School of Geographical Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Song Leng",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6724-9597"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Hongbin He"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Alfredo Huete",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2809-2376"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Ekena Rangel Pinagé",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3714-8175"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Wenjie Zhang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Honghao Ding"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Liding Chen"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Ranhao Sun",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2396-5131"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/67yy91pnst29d.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1073/pnas.2616535123",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13715803/",
  "id": "67yy91pnst29d",
  "issns": [
    "0027-8424",
    "1091-6490"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2616535123",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "417"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "9"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Biological Sciences"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Environmental Sciences"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Sustainability Science"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2305|Urban Heat Island Mitigation"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223009871",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": "PMC13715803",
  "pmid": "42900727",
  "published": "2026-10-20",
  "publisher": "National Academy of Sciences",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/67yy91pnst29d.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-01T12:23:00Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13715803",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2616535123"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "heading:Environmental Sciences",
      "subfield": "environmental-science"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Diminishing cooling returns of urban greening amid a warming climate",
  "title_text": "Diminishing cooling returns of urban greening amid a warming climate",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-01T12:23:00Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/67yy91pnst29d",
  "venue": "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America",
  "versions": []
}