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Current understanding of how the cropland nitrogen cycle will respond to elevated atmospheric CO2 is limited. By modelling global nitrogen budgets under elevated CO2 and providing a monetized impact assessment, this study shows the synergistic effects of elevated CO2 alone on global croplands.
Chemical upcycling of polyolefin plastic waste over metal-based catalysts is crucial for the circular economy, but currently available methods are incompatible with chlorine-contaminated feedstocks. Here the authors propose a two-stage dechlorination–hydrogenolysis (or hydrocracking) upcycling strategy to tackle this problem.
Current models, based on incremental changes in a single stress, have limited ability to anticipate abrupt ecosystem changes due to climate and human activities. Experiments on four models simulating ecosystems with a range of anthropogenic interactions show how much earlier abrupt change can happen.
A more in-depth understanding of the link between biodiversity and human well-being can help the design of nature-based public health interventions. This study analyses a database of species’ effect traits (colours, sounds and smells) and the diverse well-being responses that they generate.
Food production stability depends on yield, and planted and harvested areas, but most research has only studied yield response to climate. This study finds that planted area and harvestable fraction contribute substantially to US crop production shocks, emphasizing their key role in food system stability.
Many coral reefs suffer from the effects of overfishing, which threatens biodiversity and erodes human livelihoods. A study now reveals where fished reefs boost their total productivity, providing a means of resilience.
Despite fishing-induced biomass depletion on coral reefs, fisheries persist. This study presents a framework to evaluate potential reef fisheries productivity across a major fishing pressure gradient and shows evidence of compensatory ecological responses triggered by fishing on coral reefs.
Pb leakage from damaged perovskite solar cells exposed to water is minimized by applying a TiO2 sponge to sequester Pb ions. The sponge can be deposited on ready-to-use devices using a scalable and solvent-free process. As TiO2 is already used in perovskite solar cells, this approach promises environmental benefits without substantial investment costs.
A bold study now combines rigorous ethical criteria to calculate national obligations based on each country’s level of ‘overshoot’ in appropriation of the atmosphere’s capacity to absorb carbon emissions. The findings suggest that a massive debt is owed.
Some countries are disproportionately responsible for climate change damages and should compensate those remaining within fair shares of the 1.5 °C carbon budget. This study presents a procedure to quantify the level of compensation owed in a ‘net zero’ scenario where all countries decarbonize by 2050.
Natural resource extraction often involves violence against environmental defenders, but threats to women defenders tend to be poorly documented. This study analyses displacement, repression, criminalization, violent targeting and assassinations of women environmental defenders worldwide.
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.
Restoring coastal vegetated habitats can remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it as organic matter in sediments. A study now shows that these habitats also support seawater to store more carbon, and for longer, in its dissolved inorganic form.
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.
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.
