CO2 Capture by Virgin Ivy Plants Growing Up on the External Covers of Houses as a Rapid Complementary Route to Achieve Global GHG Reduction Targets

Global CO2 concentration level in the air is unprecedently high and should be rapidly and significantly reduced to avoid a global climate catastrophe. The work indicates the possibility of quickly lowering the impact of changes that have already happened and those we know will happen, especially in terms of the CO2 emitted and stored in the atmosphere, by implanting a virgin ivy plant on the available area of walls and roofs of the houses. The proposed concept of reducing CO2 from the atmosphere is one of the technologies with significant potential for implementation entirely and successfully. For the first time, we showed that the proposed concept allows over 3.5 billion tons of CO2 to be captured annually directly from the atmosphere, which makes even up 6.9% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The value constitutes enough high CO2 reduction to consider the concept as one of the applicable technologies allowing to decelerate global warming. Additional advantages of the presented concept are its global nature, it allows for the reduction of CO2 from all emission sources, regardless of its type and location on earth, and the fact that it will simultaneously lower the air temperature, contribute to oxygen production, and reduce dust in the environment.

Automated summary

Global CO2 concentration is at an unprecedented high level and needs to be reduced rapidly to prevent a climate catastrophe. Planting ivy on walls and roofs could effectively reduce CO2 emissions, with the potential to capture billions of tons of CO2 annually. This concept has the advantage of being applicable worldwide and can contribute to lowering temperatures, oxygen production, and reducing dust.