City report · British Columbia, Canada
Burnaby Air quality today
Air quality in Burnaby currently reads AQI 23 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Air quality right now
AQI 23
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 4.1
- tree cover
- 38.6%
- trees in this area
- 121K
- more trees needed
- 0
Measured across a 2 km radius around Burnaby, BC, Canada (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 11, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Burnaby · AQI 23 (Good)
Burnaby's tree count comes to 121,265 trees across 12.57 km², already at or above the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Burnaby today: AQI 23, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 07:00 local time via OpenAQ ground stations, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Ground station · Burnaby South, 6.2 km away · median of 7 stations
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
4.1
PM10
7.5
NO₂
8.9
O₃
33.4
SO₂
0.4
CO
229.1
Data: OpenAQ · AirNow
- 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 Burnaby's daily AQI at 54 on average, from 39 on Nov 8 to an hourly peak of 99 on Nov 4.
This is the US EPA AQI. How it differs from Canada's AQHI
Where Burnaby stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Burnaby: Healthy tree cover
38.6% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.57 km².
Trees in this area
121,265
Target trees
121,265
More trees needed
0
CO₂ if planted / yr
0 kg
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Burnaby lost?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Burnaby has lost about 429 hectares of forest (about 600 football pitches): 4.3% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (95%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for towns and roads.
2017: satellite photo from June 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 6 km northwest of the city center.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 429 haabout 600 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 4.3%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 409 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
The worst year was 2006, when about 38 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 | 17 ha | under 1 ha | 18 ha |
| 2002 | 25 ha | 1 ha | 27 ha |
| 2003 | 25 ha | under 1 ha | 25 ha |
| 2004 | 30 ha | 1 ha | 31 ha |
| 2005 | 17 ha | under 1 ha | 18 ha |
| 2006 | 37 ha | under 1 ha | 38 ha |
| 2007 | 16 ha | 2 ha | 18 ha |
| 2008 | 28 ha | 2 ha | 29 ha |
| 2009 | 7 ha | under 1 ha | 8 ha |
| 2010 | 8 ha | under 1 ha | 8 ha |
| 2011 | 2 ha | 1 ha | 3 ha |
| 2012 | 6 ha | under 1 ha | 7 ha |
| 2013 | 16 ha | under 1 ha | 16 ha |
| 2014 | 12 ha | under 1 ha | 13 ha |
| 2015 | 12 ha | under 1 ha | 12 ha |
| 2016 | 19 ha | 1 ha | 20 ha |
| 2017 | 27 ha | under 1 ha | 27 ha |
| 2018 | 29 ha | under 1 ha | 30 ha |
| 2019 | 13 ha | under 1 ha | 14 ha |
| 2020 | 9 ha | 2 ha | 11 ha |
| 2021 | 12 ha | 1 ha | 14 ha |
| 2022 | 14 ha | under 1 ha | 14 ha |
| 2023 | 7 ha | under 1 ha | 7 ha |
| 2024 | 14 ha | under 1 ha | 14 ha |
| 2025 | 8 ha | 2 ha | 9 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Burnaby?
- Towns and roadscleared for good85% · 367 ha
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good9.7% · 42 ha
- Unknown causescause unknown3.6% · 15 ha
Also: storms, floods and other natural causes, logging.
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
- 17,500 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 17,500 ha
- Overall change
- −40 haless forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Burnaby stayed about the same size, at about 17,500 hectares: new forest grew on about 228 hectares, and about 267 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 Burnaby
What is the air quality (AQI) in Burnaby right now?
The latest reading for Burnaby shows an AQI of 23 (Good), measured Nov 11, 07:00 local time by 7 ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ (the median of their readings; the nearest is Burnaby South, 6.2 km away). The main pollutant is PM2.5. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Burnaby today?
At AQI 23 (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 Burnaby been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Burnaby's daily AQI at 54 on average, from 39 on Nov 8 to an hourly peak of 99 on Nov 4. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Is Burnaby's AQI the same as Canada's AQHI?
No. Airleaf shows the US EPA Air Quality Index (AQI), the scale used by IQAir and most air-quality apps. Canada's Air Quality Health Index (AQHI), from Environment and Climate Change Canada, runs from 1 to 10 and above: 1–3 low risk, 4–6 moderate, 7–10 high and over 10 very high. It combines ozone, nitrogen dioxide and fine particles into one health-risk number, so it isn't a converted AQI, and the two can move differently, especially in wildfire smoke.
How much forest has the area around Burnaby lost since 2001?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Burnaby has lost about 429 hectares of forest (about 600 football pitches): 4.3% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (95%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for towns and roads. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Burnaby stayed about the same size, at about 17,500 hectares: new forest grew on about 228 hectares, and about 267 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Burnaby?
Burnaby has an estimated 121,265 trees across the 12.57 km² measured — 38.6% tree cover, already past the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Burnaby need?
Burnaby has already reached its tree-cover target, so no additional trees are needed to close the gap.
How are Burnaby's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality is measured by ground monitoring stations near Burnaby, via OpenAQ; the 7-day trend is the Open-Meteo / CAMS model's estimate. 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 Burnaby; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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