Awareness levels need to increase on other types of pollution including in aquifers, national use of water, soil and biodiversity loss. These issues attract less media attention but are still unsolved. Fortunately, other types of pollution, such as air quality in cities, are beginning to be addressed as they are responsible for the deaths and health degradation of millions of people around the world. Another critical problem that worries me is the ongoing unabated emissions from the corporate world which exacerbates climate change while trying to shift the burden of blame and behavioral change to individuals.
We are still pumping lots of CO2 into the atmosphere and we need to bring down the Keeling curve from current 417 ppm to the safer 350 ppm zone.
Greenwashing remains also a big problem both with companies and governments. We need to develop effective legislation to enhance transparency and accountability on public sustainability commitments. At the Observatory for example, we analyse public and scientific data to publish annual reports on Spanish IBEX 35 listed and unlisted large companies big polluters. We have also partnered with Heinrich Boll for a report on the European Transport Atlas. In addition, we publish an annual report of Sustainability in Spain assessing progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
The slow-down of the destruction of the ozone layer is certainly one of the environmental breakthroughs of the last decades. Big polluters like Dupont reviewed their whole production process to become more sustainable. It is not a solved problem as the hole stills persists over Chile and Patagonia but the progress made has been astounding.