Research articles

Cleaner hydrogen production can help energy sustainability. The use of yeast biomass-derived materials to develop efficient, eco-friendly and economical catalysts—compared with industrially adopted catalysts—is shown to improve hydrogen production as a strategy towards a sustainable energy system.

Carbon use often tracks economic development. This study finds the top 5% of Chinese households by income have 17% of the nation’s carbon ‘footprint’ in 2012 but that such inequality declined with China’s economic growth.

Natural disaster risk assessments neglect impacts on households’ well-being. A model to quantify disaster impacts more equitably shows that, in a hypothetical earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area, poorer households suffer 19% of the asset losses but 41% of the well-being losses.

The sustainability of wild fisheries is limited by the capture of non-target species. This study estimates that such ‘bycatch’ from US fisheries totalled 1.93 million tonnes in 2010–2015, with a 10.5% discard rate. Despite considerable improvements, certain longline, trawl and gillnet fisheries have persistent bycatch issues.

Synthetic detergents are environmentally damaging and eco-friendly alternatives would help reduce environmental impacts. This study shows a more sustainable detergent, based on cellulose nanospheres obtained from agricultural waste corncob, with strong cleaning performance and low toxicity.

Heat waves can pose a threat to biodiversity as heat stress kills sperm cells across the animal kingdom. Here, honey bee queens are found to be vulnerable to temperature changes and the specific stress-response proteins activated in the spermatheca are discussed as potential indicators of heat stress.

Little is known about the actual effects of electrification policies on carbon emissions. This study shows that, under current carbon intensities of electricity generation, electric cars and heat pumps are less emission intensive than fossil-fuel-based alternatives in 53 of 59 world regions.

A comparison of the recommended dietary guidelines in France from 2001 and 2017 finds that the updated guidelines perform better in terms of health (nutrition) and the environment (food production), albeit with a small increase in cost.

Diverse strategies are needed to mitigate climate change. This study finds that storing carbon in soils represents 25% of land-based potential, of which 60% must come from rebuilding depleted carbon stores.

Hydropower is important in Brazil, but climate change and deforestation are changing river flows. This study finds that future conditions will worsen a mismatch between seasonal electricity supply and peak demand.

Cattle are replacing wildlife in many African savannas. This field study finds that wild megaherbivores, such as elephants, increased soil carbon and nitrogen, and hence soil fertility, normally lost when only cattle are present.

A dynamic macrosimulation study of three scenarios finds that policies for social prosperity and low-carbon emissions are economically and politically feasible.

The production of lithium requires the purification of lithium chloride, which is expensive and unsustainable. A new method allows the production of high-purity electrolytic lithium from low-purity lithium chloride using solid-state electrolyte, with substantial reductions in costs and environmental impacts.

Water use in river basins is an age-old resource-management question, but it is rare to quantify consumption by specific sectors. The Colorado River is being overused for beef and dairy production, endangering the entire river ecosystem.

CO₂ mineralization and utilization via alkaline solid wastes shows promise for both stabilizing solid waste and tackling climate change, but evidence of its actual CO₂ reduction potential is scant. This study estimates that CO₂ mineralization and utilization could lead to a 12.5% global reduction of CO₂ emissions.

Climate change is driving fishery stocks out of their historic ranges. This study finds that the risk of such fishery exits is greatest in the tropics and that policy frameworks are poorly equipped to grapple with this challenge.

Inequality—wealth concentration among few people—stimulates direct foreign investment in agriculture, leading to flex-crop expansion and associated deforestation in Latin America and Southeast Asia, as found in this econometric study.

Physicochemical treatments of heavy-metal pollution in waste water have several environmental and structural disadvantages. This Article shows that sulfide-producing yeasts are able to remove mercury, lead and copper from real-world water samples and offer a platform for metal re-extraction.