Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Photoreforming is a sunlight-driven technology that can simultaneously reclaim the value in waste and contribute to renewable hydrogen production. This Review examines the advantages and challenges and identifies ways forward.
Oysters clean nutrient-polluted waters, but their populations have crashed. This study synthesizes research on oyster impacts and finds that they help remove excess nitrogen and promote nutrient recycling without contributing greatly to greenhouse gas emissions.
Soil nitrogen is vital for terrestrial ecosystems. This study finds that soil nitrogen increases with the number and age of plant species, suggesting another benefit from conserving plant diversity.
Reaching the Sustainable Development Goals requires recognizing trade-offs and synergies among targets. Focusing on conservation and human health, this Perspective suggests how to productively distinguish win–wins from other outcomes.
Continued carbon-intensive development is unsustainable. This study assesses how cloudiness and weather variability, enhanced by climate change, will affect photovoltaic output, finding that conditions are likely to worsen by mid-century over the Arabian Peninsula while improving over southern Europe.
For decades research has found evidence that community forest management provides both income for local communities and conservation of forests. A recent article suggests some of the design principles that can make it work.
Agricultural landscapes have become more simplified as crop production has risen. This study finds that pesticide use rises with crop area and field size but falls with crop diversity.
Here the authors design an electrolysis reactor to generate H2O2 which could be further catalytically activated by Cu single atoms to yield hydroxyl radicals. Combining the two reactions enables a system that could treat organic wastewater, providing a path toward sustainable advanced oxidation processes.
An analysis of 643 cases of community forest management shows that most led to improved environmental and income outcomes, but access and resource rights often deteriorate when formalizing such management.
A discourse analysis across time shows how reformist and transformative proponents have been competing over the purpose of biodiversity offsetting, which requires stronger institutional commitments to advance.
Planetary health solutions that protect the environment and promote development have been hard to find. Eco-certification of palm oil that restricts fires also reduces local poverty in Indonesia, but only in communities integrated into the market.
Big data and mobile technology are considered a growing boon for small-scale farmers. This study finds that only 24–37% of farms of <1 ha are currently served by third generation (3G) or 4G services, compared to 74–80% of farms of >200 ha, and that regions with poor yields and low food security have poor service coverage.
A study of over 36,000 villages in Indonesia shows that palm oil eco-certification reduces poverty in market-oriented villages but increases it in subsistence villages.
Negative air ions (NAIs) have been widely harnessed for air purification and environmental therapeutics. Herein, the authors construct a triboelectric NAI generator that produces NAIs with high efficiency, stimulated by mechanical motions.
Waste recycling is part of a circular economy, but for some materials its environmental benefits are unclear. Looking at the circularity of the global paper life cycle, under various levels of waste recycling, this study shows that any climate benefits hinge on reducing the carbon intensity of the energy used.
Demand for cooling is expected to increase globally. To deliver sustainable cooling beyond energy-intensive technological solutions, a comprehensive analytical framework and research agenda are proposed.
The volume of work contributing substantial understanding and new evidence about sustainability challenges is growing. Making the most of it is imperative for interventions to be really effective.
To increase the policy relevance of ecosystem service benefits research, studies need to better predict the impact of specific decisions, according to an analysis of the literature.
