Sustainability
Protecting our planet is everyone’s responsibility.
From making energy-efficient building and renovation choices to reducing everyday waste, there’s many ways your co-op can practice sustainability.
What Can We Do?
Co-ops and their members can take a wide range of actions that have environmental impacts.
Get started by downloading a list of actions taken by co-ops to improve sustainability.
Building and Renovations
Choices made during construction can have a major impact on the sustainability of your building.
The Community Land Trust is building new co-ops to Passive House standards and using innovative building technologies like pre-fabricated mass timber.
When looking at renovations for your co-op, explore options for windows, insulation and appliances that focus on energy-efficiency and ask vendors about sustainable materials or installation practices.
Many of these choices can reduce costs through lower electricity bills and increase comfort by keeping temperatures stable.
Everyday Choices
There are many ways your co-op can make more sustainable choices every single day.
Community gardens that include flowers that attract pollinators both help our local bees and your vegetable garden.
These and other sustainability efforts can also improve co-op resilience in the face of a changing climate. The same electrical heat pumps that offer more efficient electrical consumption (and which may be cheaper to run), also provide cooling which can be needed to cope with warmer summers
Ensuring everyone in your building understands how to separate organics, waste, and recycling helps ensure that fewer items end up in landfills and can help avoid fines. Many co-ops even jointly collect refundable containers to help pay for community celebrations.
Sustainability Policies
If your co-op is interested in embedding sustainability in its governance and everyday decision-making, consider adopting a sustainability policy.