New commercial buildings in France must have green roofs or solar

December 8, 2015 by Stephanie McCauley

As of last March, new buildings in French commercial areas are required to have either solar panels or partial green roofs. This initiative will help France to both increase the percentage of renewable energy and to introduce more energy efficiency, as in addition to cooling the outside environment and absorbing rainwater, green roofs can insulate buildings against extreme outside temperatures.

Climate Protection: Solar panels limit emissions from energy production and green roofs help to reduce CO2 levels Energy & Mobility: Increases the use of solar energy and decreases overall energy use due to green roofs’ insulating effect Resilience: Absorbs excess runoff water Food & Water: Provides more space for urban gardens Jobs & Assets: Creates jobs in both the solar and landscaping sectors Health, Well-Being, & Safety: Cleans the air and beautifies commercial areas

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​.