Research articles

The agricultural production of food comes with substantial greenhouse gas emissions and impacts on the environment. Dietary fats, a staple of human diet, might be produced chemosynthetically with a fraction of the detrimental effects on the environment.

While most conservation efforts rightfully focus on the percentage of protected land, this paper analyses how the size and complexity of protected area boundaries affects the remoteness of internal areas and the contiguity of protected natural ecosystems

Gold mining has a substantial impact on the surrounding environment, especially in terms of mercury release and high energy consumption. Retorts have reduced the magnitude of mercury emissions in the Brazilian Tapajós River basin, but gold mining still releases 16,000 kg of CO₂ equivalent per kilogram of gold.

Water resource development can have important downstream impacts on ecological functioning and affect socio-economic outcomes associated with marine fisheries. This study modelled the catchment-to-coast effects of reductions in freshwater flowing to estuaries in Australia.

Pairing a cobalt-free cathode with an Earth-abundant SiO_x anode is favourable from a sustainability perspective. Here the electrolyte design allows for such a combination as well as exciting battery performance.

Solar-driven biomanufacturing using semiconductor biohybrids has the potential to achieve sustainable chemical production, but it is challenging to scale up. Here, the authors present a strategy to achieve scalable solar-driven waste-to-chemical conversion using wastewater-derived biohybrids.

Tools to promote more environmentally friendly behaviours increasingly include nudges but evidence about their effectiveness is mixed. Using an online experiment, this study tests whether reflective strategies increase the effectiveness of nudges in promoting more sustainable diets.

Biodiversity protection indicators are important to assess progress towards sustainable development goals. Using mountain ecosystems as an example, this study compared two biodiversity protection reporting metrics varying in their underlying methods and applied at different spatial scales.

Climate change-induced sea-level rise and coastal extremes pose serious threats to Small Island Developing States (SIDS). This study provides a coastal flood risk assessment for SIDS globally and reveals the need for timely adaptation.

Catalytic upcycling of waste plastics has multiple benefits from a sustainability perspective, but available processes struggle with chlorine-containing feedstocks. Here the authors propose a strategy capable to upcycle chlorine-containing plastic wastes to valuable chemicals.

Environmental impact assessments are often blamed for delays in resource management, but this analysis finds that EIAs contribute a small fraction of time to implement forest management relative to other parts of the process.

Rural coastal communities depend on natural ecosystems, such as mangrove forests and wetlands, for protection against local sea level rise. Mangroves prove relatively resilient to sea level rise; however, landward shoreline retreat persists, forcing rural communities from coastal settlements.

The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes the need to transform governance for the world to develop sustainably. Using a mixed method approach, this study presents 13 principles for transformative ocean governance that can help turn ocean-use practices into more sustainable ones.

Heavy-duty vehicles are responsible for a substantial portion of road emissions from fossil-fuelled vehicles and cause harmful air pollution. Transitioning to electric heavy-duty vehicles would provide substantial health benefits, especially in Black and Hispanic/Latino urban neighbourhoods.

Clean-up of oil spills is a global challenge because current methods are ineffective when facing highly viscous oil with low fluidity. Here the authors develop a tool for efficient and high-throughput clean-up of highly viscous oil spills.

Coral reefs and related fish populations are under threat of extinction unless additional conservation measures are put in place. Focusing on 12 countries with diverse income and tropical reef proximity, this study analyses the willingness of the public to pay for global coral and reef fish conservation.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an essential building block for manufacturing plastics, but its adverse health effects have become a major concern. Here the authors show a zeolite-catalysed synthetitic route to bio-renewable BPA alternatives that feature excellent safety and preserve efficacy of function.

Levees can obscure the public perception of flood risk, reflected in accelerated rates of development in floodplains relative to surrounding areas. Effective regulation and legislative measures can reverse this effect for more sustainable management.