Tokyo residents and businesses have begun planting climbing plants to shade their buildings. The plants provide valuable shade and cooling from water evaporation, helping to lower temperatures and electricity consumption. In addition to energy savings, some plants have been selected to provide food, such as the goya vegetables from Kyocera’s green curtains that provide food for their cafeterias and employees.
Climate Protection: Reduces greenhouse gas emissions
Energy & Mobility: Decreases energy usage
Food & Water: Provides opportunities to grow food
Jobs & Assets: Saves money on energy
Health, Well-Being, & Safety: Improves air quality
Connection: Increases green space
This post is part of a series on examples of multisolving, or climate-smart policies that simultaneously work to mitigate climate change while providing co-benefits such as the ones described above. The multiple benefits analysis was done using the FLOWER framework.