Appearance before the Parliament of Catalonia on the Climate Security Act

Slow Studio took part on March 9 in the Parliament of Catalonia as part of the hearings convened during the processing of the Bill on urgent measures to protect climate security (Tram. 202-00027/15).

The hearing took place before the committee tasked with reviewing the legislative proposal and included the participation of various professional associations and organisations from the scientific, industrial and technical fields. From the Col·legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya (COAC), the delegation linked to AUS – Arquitectura i Sostenibilitat took part, a group dedicated to promoting the decarbonisation of the construction sector and the sustainable transformation of the built environment.

Representing AUS were Greta Tresserra, Sustainability Board Member at COAC and President of the AUS group, and Jade Serra, partner at Slow Studio and Vice President of AUS. Both shared with the parliamentary committee a series of reflections and proposals related to the role of the building sector in the climate transition.

During the intervention, it was recalled that the construction sector is responsible for approximately 40% of global CO₂ emissions, a significant share associated with the manufacture of energy- and fossil fuel-intensive materials such as concrete, steel or certain petroleum-derived products.

At the same time, it was highlighted that Catalonia is also facing a housing access crisis, in an inflationary context that reduces households’ capacity to save and after a decade in which the pace of construction has not managed to meet housing demand.

AUS argued that both challenges—climate emergency and housing emergency—must be addressed in a coordinated and cross-cutting manner, avoiding a response to one that compromises the solution to the other. The aim is to ensure the well-being of today’s society without compromising the resources and living conditions of future generations.

In this context, the group conveyed to the committee the need to promote a unified strategy to decarbonise the construction sector in Catalonia, capable of guiding public policy, regulation and the transformation of the production model towards a building stock compatible with climate targets.

Participation in this legislative process forms part of the work that AUS and its members carry out to contribute, from the fields of architecture and urban planning, to the definition of regulatory frameworks that accelerate the transition towards a more sustainable, resilient and climate-responsible built environment.