The topic of greening buildings has arrived. Green roofs, façades and interiors have never been as present as they are today. Building greening plays an important role in climate change issues, climate impact adaptation and in the context of ideas for the city of the future.
Never before have so many German cities funded green roofs and façades with subsidies, never before have there been so many different research and funding projects for greening buildings. And for the first time, more than ten million square meters of green roofs were installed in one year. This is according to an analysis by the Bundesverband GebäudeGrün e.V. (BuGG).
The annual increase in the number of newly greened areas and the number of cities providing funding is encouraging. With the green roofs that have already been implemented and the various municipal funding instruments as well as the funding programs of the federal states and the federal government, Germany can rightly see itself in the top group of countries worldwide that successfully implement green buildings.
- In 2023, more than ten million square meters of roof area were newly greened in Germany. That was around 16.8 percent of the newly created flat roof areas in new builds and renovations.
- In the same year, around 130,400 square meters of façade surfaces were created from ground-based façade greening with climbing aids and wall-based façade greening.
- The green roof market grew by over 17 percent from 2022 to 2023
Green façades and roofs make an important contribution to ecological construction and provide a habitat for bees, spiders, small birds, butterflies, ground beetles, ants and grasshoppers. In German cities today, more than two thirds of the surface area is sealed. If only five percent of all building surfaces were greened, the urban climate could be significantly improved, writes NABU Naturschutzbund Deutschland. In addition, green facades provide natural insulation that cools in summer and saves heating energy in winter.
Photo: © Green press portal
