Combating climate change and facilitating access to housing will be key to rebuilding society after the pandemic

The realization on line for the IX Solidarity Economy Fair of Catalonia (FESC) it did not deprive her of the dissemination of ideas. Regarding the talks on cooperative and sustainable housing, which we organized as a Sostre Cívic, have been very successful. On November 11, the titled video conferences took place “Sustainable housing and energy; real examples of co-housing and photovoltaics" i "We make cooperative housing affordable!". From the FESC2020 Content Commission they have informed us that the first has been of those that have had more public of the fair, as between 60 and 80 people participated. They have become a manifesto of the possibilities that the construction sector has in terms of reducing the ecological footprint and a call for the affordability of cooperative housing in right of use. 

“Sustainable housing and energy; real examples of co-housing and photovoltaics" was one of the talks with the largest audience. The topic revolved around theenergy efficiency and was approached from different points of view thanks to the ponents who participated. Among them, theÀngel Estévez de Sostre Cívic, who explained the environmental impact the construction industry has on the environment and how co-operative housing can help reduce it. 25% of CO emissions₂ it belongs to the use of buildings and this means that this sector has a very large responsibility in terms of reducing these emissions. Faced with this, the model it presents Sostre Cívic —as a result of collective ownership and right of use— presents many advantages for dealing with the environmental impact of buildings, since the very nature of cooperating and sharing per se, already contains a component of sustainability. In addition, the social mass of the cooperative itself is already very aware and exerts pressure to be more energy efficient. 

Other cooperatives related to housing also participated in the activity. On the one hand, Celobert, an architecture, engineering and urban planning cooperative, which made its presentation with the help of David Fernández, a member of its technical team of engineers. He explained various concepts ofsustainable building within the Social and Solidarity Economy as the project Cirerers in Nou Barris that he is doing in collaboration with Sostre Cívic. On the other hand, Jordi Garcia, from Becquel, he explained how to go from the fossil energy we consume to renewable energy through the PV and how the fact that each building consumed its own solar energy would greatly reduce the environmental impact. The last participant was Carles Cuadern from We are Energy, which is a non-profit cooperative that creates energy with its own facilities. work for empower citizens and provide it with the means to increase its capacity to act in the energy field. 

The issue of energy efficiency in buildings, based on the fact that they emit a very high percentage of CO₂  to the environment and that they are a way to act in order to reverse it, is on the agenda in the context of climate change in which we find ourselves. thecooperative housing it is a form through which we citizens could contribute our bit. 

However, although co-operative housing has been shown to be viable, its effectiveness has yet to be proven. affordability. If the price decreased and more people could join, the ecological footprint would also decrease. For this reason, from Cooperative Housing Sector in the right of use of the Solidarity Economy Network (XES) gave a second talk at the FESC presented by Anna Corrons from the group of Can 70 de Sostre Cívic where to give the starting shot of one campaign to achieve exactly what the title says: "We make cooperative housing affordable!". With this, they claim aid to cooperatives and members; improved taxation of cooperative housing in right of use; improvement of financing and improvement of public guarantees for access to financing. 

The Solidarity Economy Fair of Catalonia wants to show how the Social and Solidarity Economy (ESS) is contributing to the urgent and essential ecosocial transition that the planet needs, and to reflect on the challenges we need to overcome in order to contribute even more. This first virtual FESC has had 15.000 visits, 8.500 of them unique. Apart from the two activities in which he has participated Sostre Cívic, there have been around 90 and the ponents that have carried them out have been 147. 

In short, although the FESC changed the format this year, it had quite a response and the cooperative housing in right of use has aroused interest in the sector. All those who could not participate in the various presentations they can retrieve them in the repository of the organizing entity. We see how at the moment we find so much of climate crisis as well as economic and health, the fact of presenting projects that start from the housing sector, can help in the reconstruction of our society. When we get out of this malaise that this new decade apparently gives us, theaction to combat climate change o facilitate access to the house they will become even more crucial.