City report · Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France
Besançon Air quality today
Air quality in Besançon currently reads AQI 27 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
AQI 27
Air quality right now
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 4.8
- tree cover
- 29.7%
- trees in this area
- 92.7K
- more trees needed
- 936
Measured across a 2 km radius around Saint-Claude, Besançon, France (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 25, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Besançon · AQI 27 (Good)
Besançon's tree count comes to 92,652 trees across 12.48 km² of land, 0 points below the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 936 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Besançon today: AQI 27, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 10:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 7 ground-station cities within 165 km, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Estimate · model corrected with 7 station cities within 165 km, e.g. Lausanne and Bern
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
4.8
PM10
5.7
NO₂
5.1
O₃
52.0
SO₂
0.3
CO
141.0
- Outdoor exercise
- A good day to be active outside
- Windows
- Open them to air the house
- Mask
- Not needed
- Air purifier
- Not needed
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Besançon's daily AQI at 53 on average, from 27 on Nov 11 to an hourly peak of 102 on Nov 5.
Where Besançon stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Besançon: Below target
29.7% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.48 km² of land.
Trees in this area
92,652
Target trees
93,588
More trees needed
936
CO₂ if planted / yr
20.6 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Besançon lost?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Besançon has lost about 751 hectares of forest (about 1,100 football pitches): 5.2% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it was lost to logging, so much of it can grow back. About 217 hectares (29%) was deforestation: forest cleared for good for farms, mines or towns.
2017: satellite photo from August 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km northeast of the city center.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 751 haabout 1,100 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 5.2%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 217 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
The worst year was 2006, when about 122 hectares of forest were lost.
Hectares of forest lost each year
Show the figures as a table
| Year | Cleared for good | Can grow back | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | under 1 ha | 3 ha | 4 ha |
| 2002 | 5 ha | 12 ha | 16 ha |
| 2003 | 5 ha | 16 ha | 21 ha |
| 2004 | 2 ha | 12 ha | 14 ha |
| 2005 | 4 ha | 25 ha | 28 ha |
| 2006 | 89 ha | 33 ha | 122 ha |
| 2007 | 17 ha | 9 ha | 26 ha |
| 2008 | 25 ha | 44 ha | 69 ha |
| 2009 | 9 ha | 4 ha | 13 ha |
| 2010 | 17 ha | 33 ha | 50 ha |
| 2011 | 2 ha | 14 ha | 16 ha |
| 2012 | 5 ha | 7 ha | 11 ha |
| 2013 | 1 ha | 3 ha | 4 ha |
| 2014 | 7 ha | 11 ha | 17 ha |
| 2015 | under 1 ha | 5 ha | 5 ha |
| 2016 | 3 ha | 7 ha | 10 ha |
| 2017 | 1 ha | 6 ha | 7 ha |
| 2018 | 2 ha | 5 ha | 7 ha |
| 2019 | 2 ha | 26 ha | 28 ha |
| 2020 | 7 ha | 77 ha | 84 ha |
| 2021 | 1 ha | 45 ha | 47 ha |
| 2022 | 4 ha | 38 ha | 42 ha |
| 2023 | 2 ha | 44 ha | 46 ha |
| 2024 | 4 ha | 33 ha | 37 ha |
| 2025 | 4 ha | 23 ha | 27 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Besançon?
- Loggingcan grow back68% · 513 ha
- Towns and roadscleared for good26% · 193 ha
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good1.7% · 13 ha
Also: mining and energy, unknown causes.
Causes for 2025 are estimates, based on what caused forest loss in the same places up to 2024.
Forest gained and lost, 2000–2020
- Forest in 2000
- 15,000 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 14,800 ha
- Overall change
- −223 haless forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Besançon stayed about the same size, at about 14,800 hectares: new forest grew on about 184 hectares, and about 407 hectares were lost.
These 2000 and 2020 maps, from the University of Maryland, count any land with trees taller than 5 m as forest, including plantations and orchards. Forest that was cut or burned and had grown back by 2020 counts in both years, so the loss here is smaller than the yearly figures.
These figures cover everything within 10 km of the city center, a wider area than the report above, because forest is usually lost at a city's edges.
Source: Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA, Global Forest Change (GFC-2025-v1.13); causes: WRI/Google DeepMind drivers of forest loss; both CC BY 4.0, summed by Airleaf for each area. Forest gained and lost 2000–2020: Potapov et al. 2022, UMD GLAD Global Land Cover and Land Use Change, CC BY 4.0. Images: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data. How it's measured
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Frequently asked
Questions about Besançon
What is the air quality (AQI) in Besançon right now?
The latest reading for Besançon shows an AQI of 27 (Good), observed Nov 11, 10:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 7 ground-station cities within 165 km, US EPA index. The main pollutant is PM2.5. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Besançon today?
At AQI 27 (Good): a good day to be active outside. Windows: open them to air the house. Masks: not needed. The reading changes through the day, so check again before a long run or ride.
What has the air quality in Besançon been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Besançon's daily AQI at 53 on average, from 27 on Nov 11 to an hourly peak of 102 on Nov 5. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around Besançon lost since 2001?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Besançon has lost about 751 hectares of forest (about 1,100 football pitches): 5.2% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it was lost to logging, so much of it can grow back. About 217 hectares (29%) was deforestation: forest cleared for good for farms, mines or towns. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Besançon stayed about the same size, at about 14,800 hectares: new forest grew on about 184 hectares, and about 407 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Besançon?
Besançon has an estimated 92,652 trees across the 12.48 km² of land measured — 29.7% tree cover, 0 percentage points short of the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Besançon need?
Besançon needs roughly 936 more trees to close a 0-point shortfall against its 30% tree-cover target — about 20.6 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Besançon's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality comes from ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ where one reports nearby, and otherwise, as here, from the Open-Meteo / CAMS model, which may differ from street-level monitors. Tree cover is measured from Sentinel-2 L2A (ESA Copernicus) via Earth Search satellite imagery at 10 m detail across a 2 km radius around Saint-Claude; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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