Environmental benefits of co-located photovoltaic and greenery systems: A review on the operational performance and assessment framework across climate zones

[Display omitted] •Comprehensive review of photovoltaic greenery and agrivoltaic studies.•Categorized multifunctional benefits in co-located photovoltaic greenery systems.•Discussed the impact of system design and thermal mechanisms on operational benefits.•Analyzed research coverage of the systems by climate zones and research objectives.•Developed a replicable framework for multidisciplinary assessment of such systems. Co-location of photovoltaic modules and greenery is implemented through photovoltaic-green roof (PV-GR) system in the urban environment and agriculture-photovoltaic (APV) system in the agricultural environment. These systems offer multiple environmental benefits from the synergistic integration of PV and greenery. Nevertheless, the systematic implementation of these systems is still scarce due to the lack of stakeholder awareness on the multifunctional features, performance evaluation, system design framework, and technical knowledge for optimum implementation. Hence, this review paper analyzed 145 available studies across climate zones, and presents 5 general environmental benefits of co-located systems, 7 context-based benefits specific for PV-GR and APV, along with the challenges in implementing the systems. The interdependence of the reported benefits to 5 system designs components through relevant physical mechanisms is also discussed. In view of diverse climate conditions involved in these systems, publications are categorized by their objectives and Köppen climate classification across 13 climate zones for PV-GR and 14 climate zones for APV. Finally, this study proposed a literature-informed assessment framework with 4 evaluation stages to provide a comprehensive and replicable performance assessment. This review paper provides a systematic summary of findings and prospects to improve future research in co-locatedsystems.