News & Views

Lead-halide perovskites could revolutionize the provision of low-cost solar energy but are limited by their neurotoxic lead content, which can readily dissolve in water. A supramolecular complex has now been developed to suppress lead release.

The Rotterdam Convention helps ensure that international trade of harmful chemicals is transparent, and it gives parties the right to refuse imports of specific substances. Now a study shows that illegal trade of chemicals listed under the Rotterdam Convention is ongoing alongside legal trade.

The upcycling of plastic wastes to realize plastics circularity is obstructed by the presence of chlorine impurities. Now a conversion strategy addresses this problem and paves the way to upcycle chlorine-contaminated plastic wastes.

Adopting ‘climate-smart’ agricultural practices that increase the amount of carbon stored in soils can make an important contribution to climate change mitigation. But if crop productivity suffers as a result, other farmers may compensate by expanding cropland elsewhere, which could offset some carbon savings.

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.

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.

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.

Curbside recycling is costly and performs poorly on expected environmental and economic outcomes. This raises the question of whether curbside recycling should endure or be eliminated to allow alternative services to flourish.

Conservation basic income provides a model that could improve the well-being of people and nature, but more research is needed on the environmental efficacy and social equitability.

Reducing greenhouse gases can benefit air quality and health overall, but the magnitude and distribution of these benefits remain uncertain. Now a study shows that while air quality gains from carbon policies are widespread, some regions could see pollution increases.

Involving locals in marine conservation and management has been promoted to improve livelihoods and marine life. A study shows how community-based initiatives can be designed appropriately to generate desired social, economic and ecological outcomes.

Urban water crises are an increasingly pressing challenge. A study now shows how unsustainable behaviour fostered by social inequalities undermines water access and, if unaddressed, may lead to increased vulnerability in the long term.

The world’s largest deltas, home to numerous megacities, are expected to bear the brunt of climate-driven sea-level rise. Now, a study shows that disentangling the human impacts on the Mississippi Delta in the past century can help make these systems more resilient.

Incorporating single atoms into carbon-based catalysts is shown to disrupt their crystal symmetry in a way that improves their catalytic activity. The discovery here could offer a generalized approach for the rational design of electrocatalysts.

A safe aqueous electrolyte design with hybrid salts and solvents turns a zinc metal anode highly reversible under conditions matching practical operational requirements, paving the way for the future market adoption of more sustainable battery technologies.

A method for recycling cathodes without fully breaking down the valuable material, and then upgrading it, produces batteries that can provide stable operation at high voltages, enabling enhanced energy-storage possibilities.

Carbon capture technologies are of utmost importance for the mitigation of climate change. Now, a study shows that all polymineralic rocks, regardless of their composition, can trap significant amounts of CO₂ through mechanochemical processing.

Our current use of plastics is the epitome of an unsustainable lifestyle with their reliance on fossil resources and their widespread application through single use products that, after use, end up in the natural environment. A study now analyses what it would take for plastics to become a sustainable material.

The Russian military invasion of Ukraine has vastly affected freshwater systems and critical water facilities in the country. A study now evaluates the magnitude of the damage and the related environmental and livelihood implications.

Oil palm plantations can supplant once biodiverse tropical forests. As planted areas expand, it is vital to plan landscapes to better balance biodiversity and oil palm production. Strategic ‘set-asides’ offer a key approach.