On June 28th, the "Report on Sustainability in Spain. Change of Course, Time for Action" prepared by the Alternativas Foundation was presented. This second edition analyzes the main indicators of environmental sustainability for the planet. The report confirms the urgency of taking action in order to avoid, in time, more difficult situations than those experienced so far, caused by climate change and the scarcity of natural resources.

The document consists of four distinct and closely related parts. The first analyzes the evolution of sustainability worldwide. The second reviews the status of the circular economy in Europe and identifies some of the measures that should be taken to achieve a greener European Union. It also analyzes the sustainability of European lifestyles and identifies the reasons that lead some of them to adopt less polluting consumption patterns.

The third section is dedicated to the measures needed to lay the foundations for a circular economy in Spain. The report focuses on five major areas: energy policy, improving the environmental and social sustainability of cities, the need for green tax reform, Spanish firefighting policy, and sustainable tourism.

Finally, the fourth section of the text includes a series of recommendations to be implemented at the global, European, and national levels. The following are some of the global and EU-wide recommendations:

• The need to establish a new paradigm of economic and social development that takes into account both the limited natural resources of the planet and the need to guarantee the well-being of all the Earth's inhabitants.
• Strong measures to end planned obsolescence in the European Union.
• Increase the European Union's action on climate policy.
• Agree on binding targets on green taxation.
• Monitoring and support for national green purchasing plans.
• Support for alternative social and economic models.

For the specific case of Spain, the recommendations are:

• Energy scenarios in line with the future Climate Change and Energy Transition Law , based on renewable energy, increased electrification of energy uses and energy efficiency, and the elimination of fossil fuels by mid-century, as established by the Paris Agreement.
• Program of energy demand management measures that will be part of the future Climate Change and Energy Transition Law.
• Measures focused on the industrial sector, such as the review of the European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), to minimize the free allocation of rights or to allocate the revenue from rights auctions to finance national climate change mitigation and adaptation policies.
• The adoption of a sustainable mobility law.
• Modify and reorient the Infrastructure, Transportation and Housing Plan (PITVI) 2012-2024.
• Meet European waste management objectives.
• Apply an ecological tax reform (RFE).
• Apply the concept of the circular economy to the entire economy in Spain.
• Plan for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 11 on sustainable cities:
• Adoption of a Common Forest Policy (CFP)
• New sustainable tourism policy that places environmental and social sustainability at the heart of tourism activity.