The US Inflation Reduction Act sets that in 2027, for an electric vehicle to be tax-credit eligible, 80% of the market value of critical minerals in its battery must be sourced domestically, from US free-trade partners or from North American recycling. The viability of the target is evaluated for different battery chemistries.

Ethylene is a widely used petrochemical feedstock for the manufacture of various critical chemicals. Here the authors show a rationally designed Cu catalyst that enables electrocatalytic production with high performance and economic feasibility as well as sustainability.

Solutions that can support multiple sustainability goals related to clean energy, and resource use efficiency, will be crucial in the near future. The study estimates the potential of floating solar panels on reservoirs globally to generate renewable energy, reduce water losses and conserve land.

Milling of mafic minerals has been proposed as a method to capture carbon dioxide. Hard rocks that are commonly crushed to produce construction aggregate, however, are more efficient at carbon dioxide capture and have the potential to trap substantial CO₂ as a by-product of aggregate production.

Sourcing rare earth elements (REEs) from unconventional feedstocks has substantial environmental and societal–economic benefits. Here the authors develop tools to evaluate the economic viability of unconventional REE feedstocks to facilitate the implementation of a sustainable REE supply.

A global meta-analysis examines concurrent soil organic carbon (SOC) and yield responses—including their direct connection—to cover cropping and suggests that targeting cover crops on low-carbon soils can lead to direct yield benefits from SOC increases.

Blue carbon ecosystems, such as seagrass meadows and mangrove forests, provide myriad ecosystem services and their restoration has gained global attention. Via enhanced ocean alkalinity, restoring these ecosystems can also promote durable carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere.

Although key to reducing transport greenhouse gas emissions, not much is known about city-level policies globally. With a spatially explicit monocentric urban economic model, this study analyses the impact of four representative policies to mitigate transport greenhouse gas emissions across 120 cities worldwide.

This study shows how a form of olfactory misinformation (odour camouflage) on a newly sown wheat crop can prevent wild house mice from finding buried seeds, substantially reducing seed loss in an ethical way.

Rising costs have recently reduced local governments’ efforts to collect recyclables from households, but this study shows that kerb-side recycling should be reconsidered as it can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and be a very cost-effective climate change mitigation strategy.

Paul Akiwumi, director of the Africa, least developed countries and special programmes division of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, explains the present challenges of the low-carbon transition to sustainable development in the world’s most vulnerable developing countries.

As armed conflicts claim dreadful death tolls and destroy nature, they jeopardize humanity’s future. If safe and peaceful societies are the priorities of governments, more needs to happen to achieve them.

A historic treaty to protect the oceans has finally been signed off by the United Nations, can we be hopeful now?

As interest in publishing with Nature Sustainability keeps growing, the editorial team reorganizes how it provides feedback to the community.

Anna Berti Suman is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC). She is the principal researcher of the Sensing for Justice (SensJus) project, which explores the applications of civic environmental monitoring for environmental justice.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a prominent methodology for evaluating potential environmental impacts of products throughout their entire lifespan. However, LCA studies often lack transparency and comparability, limiting their significance. Here, recommendations for best practices for LCA are provided, exemplified by its application to batteries.