Review Articles

Measuring the heath of urban greenery is costly but important. This Review presents the advantages and trade-offs of technology-supported tools to measure the health of urban greenery and highlights the importance of high-resolution urban greenery data to support cities in achieving Sustainable Development Goals.

Translating Earth system boundaries across scale involves scientific and normative judgements, with associated assumptions, bias and uncertainties. A protocol involving key building blocks and control steps in translation is presented with focus on businesses and cities, two understudied critical actors.

Many of the barriers to progress in addressing environmental problems, such as climate change, are political. This Review illustrates how insight into politics can help policymakers craft strategies to address the ambition gap, the implementation gap and the international action gap.

The textile industry is energy intensive and releases huge amounts of pollutants to the environment. Here the authors take a life cycle approach to examine the technological progress made to improve the sustainability of each stage and propose the future directions.

Renewable electricity-powered CO₂ electroreduction offers a sustainable route to transform the chemical industry. Here the authors overview four CO₂ electrolysis pathways that could be immune from carbonate formation, a major technological barrier.

This article reviews the past decade of literature reporting the application of resilience science in sustainable development practice. Although innovative complexity-oriented practices have emerged, the article shows that dominant applications diverge substantially from the science.

There is a growing awareness that plastic pollution poses a major environmental threat. This Review highlights the knowledge gap on their long-term impacts and recommends inclusion in life cycle analysis for better decision-making.

Today’s energy systems rely on rechargeable batteries but the growing demand raises environmental concerns. As more data become available, sensing can play a key role in advancing utilization strategies for new and used lithium-ion devices. This Review discusses how optical sensors can help to improve the sustainability of batteries.

Emergency frames in sustainability debates can stimulate collective action on issues for which it is lacking but can have consequences. This Review examines the political effects of emergency frames in sustainability and develops a typology of different effects to build a shared vocabulary for analysis and decision-making.

The transfer of public funds between governments within a country based on ecological indicators is an emerging tool in environmental policy. A review of extant and proposed schemes identifies challenges and opportunities to expand the use of this instrument.

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.

Biodeterioration of stone monuments and buildings can lead to a loss of world cultural heritage. This Review discusses the role of microbes in the deterioration processes, the biochemical mechanisms involved and possible strategies for sustainable conservation of stone monuments and buildings.

Fungi-derived material can substitute for leather. This Review synthesizes information on this process and its environmental and ethical benefits.

Converging evidence indicates that SARS-CoVs are present in wastewater for several days with potential health risks. This Review analyses knowledge about such risks as well as the potential spread of SARS-CoVs in waterborne, waterborne–aerosolized and waterborne–foodborne pathways during a pandemic.

This Review covers the sustainability of deep-seabed mining, suggesting a slower transition from exploration to exploitation may be beneficial.

Culture influences low-carbon energy transitions and as a result should be considered in the design of relevant policies. Focusing on a selection of low-carbon technologies and behavioural practices, this Review highlights the role of culture with respect to different dimensions of sustainability.

The ocean genome is the genetic material present in marine biodiversity. While technological advances are enabling exploration, conservation and innovation of this resource, the associated capacities are inequitably distributed among countries.

A review of marine spatial planning literature identifies links with climate change and gaps in the practical integration of both concepts.

A literature review on transboundary freshwater cooperation and conflict finds the former prevails, followed by non-violent conflict. Despite greater understanding of drivers, analysis of recent events and better datasets are needed.

The world is urbanizing. This Review assesses impacts of urban growth on habitat and biodiversity, finding direct impacts more in high-income countries while indirect impacts affect more land but are lesser studied.