Editorials

Our food system reflects and affects our values. Recognizing and understanding the power of those often unstated value systems is critical for avoiding a range of disasters.

Rain and drought have seized the world’s attention, showing the importance of water studies for society. But what if the field is not pursuing the most critical research?

Nature Sustainability welcomes research comparing the performance of environmental policy instruments to better inform the choice of policies and ultimately help to bridge the science–policy gap.

Scientific evidence sheds light on the extent, source and type of litter in the oceans, as well as on the limited efforts to clean it up so far. As we rely on healthy oceans for our future, it’s time to act.

As transitioning to a more sustainable energy system is imperative, Nature Sustainability and Tongji University launch an Expert Panel to shed light on the integrative research efforts needed to develop the next generation of batteries.

The delayed Tokyo Olympics were promised to be an example of how to stage an ecologically and socially responsible mega-event, but historical evidence and current trends suggest this may not be possible.

A new biodiversity decade is about to start and hopefully will achieve just progress for both people and the planet.

Our expert panel on food value chains now shares recommendations on how to transform agri-food systems.

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.

Sustainable interventions to manage wildfires are needed but require understanding the causes of such events.

Constructive criticism is paramount to the advance of scholarly debates but comes with challenges.

Governments need to act now to halt rising inequalities or they will fail to deliver on the promise of a better future for all.

Embedding behavioural, environmental and health considerations, alongside economic needs, into transport policies can pave the way to a sustainable system.

The effects of the COVID-19 outbreak are unfolding rapidly and governments around the world are seeking scientific advice to respond. Sustainability communities should be part of the process but need to up their efforts to engage with policy needs.

A growing, increasingly affluent and urban human population is driving demand for more food grown in more-sustainable ways. This issue features a suite of articles highlighting how intensification of production on existing farmland and with fewer inputs is an aspirational and data-hungry challenge.

Measuring the full set of society’s assets is critical to the design of policies for a sustainable future.

Engineering approaches to wastewater treatment must aim for more than improved efficiency.

Nature Sustainability aims to give qualitative studies the recognition they deserve.

While global efforts to tackle hunger and other food-related crises are stepping up, Nature Sustainability and the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability convene a new Expert Panel focusing on system changes and human agency.

After a year of intense activities, the University of Virginia–Nature Sustainability Expert Panel on behavioural science for design is ready to share its main findings and eager to bring more experts on board.