Research articles

Double cropping can increase production from a given area of land. This study finds that maize ethanol produced from a second crop with soybeans in west central Brazil can reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared with gasoline and also have economic and employment benefits.

The recent shift in the United States from coal to natural gas for electric power has reduced the carbon dioxide emissions intensity of electric power production, but the other pollution-related impacts of this shift are not yet known. This study finds that, between 2005 and 2016, decommissioning coal-fired plants in the continental US saved an estimated 26,610 lives and 570 million bushels of corn, soybeans and wheat in their vicinities and also changed regional climate.

An international arrangement of transferable fishing rights and biomass-based allocation can incentivize establishing Marine Protected Areas while promoting the economy.

By passively evaporating water from waste streams, evaporation ponds work with different waste streams but need large areas due to low evaporation rates. This study shows that a photo-thermal device converting sunlight into mid-infrared radiation could enhance evaporation and reduce land needs.

Pesticides overuse has led to evolution of resistance but the associated crop yield losses or economic costs at large scale are not known. This study estimates the annual cost of resistance in England for black-grass and calls for national-scale planning to address the problem.

A novel method to assess the impacts of large-scale conservation interventions on household wealth while capturing local heterogeneity reveals small and variable impacts of a nationwide conservation programme in Tanzania.

Increased electricity availability has been posited as a boost for gender equity by providing women with access to appliances. However, social and household norms could mitigate this access, as this mixed-methods study investigates.

Current methods to remove oil microdroplets from wastewater are ineffective at the variable pH conditions commonly found in wastewater. This study presents a surface-engineered sponge that synergistically combines surface chemistry, charge and roughness, providing a solution to this problem.

Concentrations of glyphosate, a common herbicide, in water can be problematic due to its toxicity. Using both artificial and real water samples, this study shows the sustainability advantages of using magnetite (Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles to remove glyphosate from water.

The cascading effects and feedbacks of interactions between planetary boundaries shrink the safe operating space originally identified by analysing each boundary separately.

Adoption of air conditioning is increasing globally, leading to peaks in electricity consumption and related environmental concerns. Compiling recent data on population and temperature, this study ranks 219 countries and 1,692 cities based on a measure of cooling demand to improve our understanding of future trends.

Flooding is the costliest natural disaster. Focusing on the United States, this analysis finds that by 2070 avoided damages exceed land acquisition costs for more than one-third of unprotected natural lands in the 100-year floodplain.

The degradation and recycling of thermoset materials are major sustainability challenges. The synthesized thermoset hyperbranched polymers (HER-HT_n) reported in this study exhibit recoverability and rapid degradability in more environmentally friendly phosphoric acid solutions.

Soil erosion threatens food production and ecosystems. This study finds that soil erosion rates change significantly at national borders, probably reflecting agricultural characteristics that vary among countries.

Adequate methods are needed to study the connections among food consumption and production, energy and water, and environmental impacts. This Analysis presents a set of model-based scenarios and associated Sankey diagrams to facilitate this kind of analysis and formulate response strategies.

Knowing how and why households stop using solid-fuel stoves after adopting clean fuels can inform policies for energy transitions. This study shows that in China over one-third and one-fifth of participants suspended use of solid fuel for cooking and heating, respectively, during the past 20 years.

Nitrogen is critical to crop production but its overuse challenges sustainability. This study finds that, despite intense and growing nitrogenous fertilizer use, Pakistan’s crop yields have risen much more slowly than expected.

Recently, ecologists have begun discussing an idea for setting aside half of the Earth for conservation purposes. This study provides some of the first analysis of the impacts of doing so on society, based on assumptions about ecoregions and human footprint.

Substantial water savings can be achieved by coating toilet bowl surfaces to repel liquids, bacteria and viscoelastic solids such as human faeces. In this Article, the authors develop a sprayable, non-fouling coating that can reduce cleaning water consumption by ~90% compared with untreated surfaces.

During the 2004–16 shale-gas development in the Appalachian basin, United States, premature mortality from lower air quality and employment followed a boom-and-bust cycle, whereas climate impacts will persist for generations beyond the activity.