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What is the collaborative economy?

Sharing to be more sustainable

Reading time: 8 min

The movement of people and goods within large cities is one of the main challenges of the sustainable cities of the future. As a result, both the administration and the industrial sector have focused their efforts on developing services that promote sustainable mobility and reduce traffic jams, traffic, and pollution in city centers. WiBLE, Repsol’s carsharing is a perfect example of collaborative economy, which is committed to shared mobility as a solution to reducing emissions, but there are many more.

What do we mean by collaborative economy?

The collaborative economy consists of sharing goods or services in exchange for a pre-agreed compensation, financial or otherwise.

In this sense, an action as simple as bartering can also be an essential part of the collaborative economy. That's why it's often referred to as the “sharing economy.” New technologies are driving this sustainable development model. Previously, we could only use our immediate environment, but thanks to the internet, it's now much easier to connect with people anywhere on the planet.

Depending on the relationship established between the participants in the exchanges, we can talk about different types:

Collaborative consumption

Consumption model based on the exchange, rental, or shared use of goods or services among different users such as carsharing or the vacation rentals.

Collaborative production

It consists of the interaction between different people to implement a project usually through shared areas, either virtual or physical, such as coworking spaces.

Collaborative finance

The best known example is crowdfunding, in which different people or entities make monetary contributions so that an initiative can be launched.

Open knowledge

Refers to non-profit knowledge dissemination platforms such as open online courses, publicly accessible online encyclopedias or free virtual archives.

Examples of collaborative economy

Transportation

Among the best-known examples is carsharing, which allows you to use a car whenever you need it, and you only have to pay for the time you use the vehicle. Users can this way save on the maintenance of a private car and congestion in the city is reduced.

Marc Marquez riding his Repsol Honda Team MotoGP bike.

Finances

Several economic platforms allow the collective financing of certain projects in exchange for “rewards” for the patrons, which vary according to the amount they contribute.

A man recharging an electric car while a girl smiles

Tourism

In this field, we find websites where individuals rent out houses, apartments, or rooms they're not using, so other people can temporarily stay there during their vacation.

Trucks and buses. Truck driving on the highway

Work

Collaborative work platforms allow freelance workers to offer their services remotely to companies around the world, as well as companies and individuals to expose their needs and budget, so professionals can contact them.

Factory assembly line with robotic arms. Industry

Crafts and antiques

Online marketplaces can boost the work of small-business artisans, who can offer all kinds of unique products for sale online such as handmade objects or vintage products.

Buying, selling, and exchanging

Both in Spain and internationally, there are many applications for selling and buying pre-owned objects between individuals, but it's also possible to buy a vehicle, look for a house to rent or hire a service, among others.

Benefits of the collaborative economy

This model of economy entails numerous advantages. We can highlight the following:

Savings: The products we find in collaborative consumption businesses can provide us with the same service but at a much more affordable price.
Sustainability: Savings also apply to resources, which are used more efficiently by reducing the need to manufacture new products.
Broader supply: Interactions based on the collaborative economy improve the supply available, promote competition, and facilitate entrepreneurship.
Trust: The possibility that the users themselves are the ones who rate the services fosters trust, since they can know in advance the platform's degree of reliability, for example, before using it.

Is there a link between the collaborative economy and the circular economy?

It could be said that the collaborative economy is part of the circular economy. The latter advocates moving from a linear economy — in which raw materials are extracted to produce the goods or resources consumed and then discarded — to a circular one that allows added value to be created so those goods or services can be reused.

Until now, the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, and recycle) have been used as the basis for reducing our consumption of resources. However, their number is now extended to seven, as you can see in our circular economy page.

Repsol and the collaborative economy

Our commitment to the collaborative economy is materialized in initiatives such as WiBLE, the corporate carsharing service for electric vehicles that employees of Campus Repsol and the Tres Cantos and Móstoles centers in Madrid can enjoy.

This sustainable mobility service, sponsored by Repsol and Kia, offers a fleet of 500 vehicles that can be rented by the minute, hour, or day. With WiBLE, Repsol and Kia aim to promote sustainable mobility in a large city like Madrid, the first city in Europe to offer this service.