Volume 6 Issue 3, March 2023

Carbon capture, utilization and storage, a fundamental process to a sustainable future, relies on a suite of technologies among which electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide is essential. Here, we discuss the issues faced when reporting performance of this technology and recommend how to move forward at both materials and device levels.

Rechargeable aqueous zinc batteries are promising candidates for large-scale energy storage, but their operation is suboptimal at low temperatures. An electrolyte solution comprising two salts now enables unprecedented battery performance across a wide temperature range.

In a warming climate, more than 90% of the global population and gross domestic product might be exposed to increasing risks of compound drought–heatwave events, with more severe effects in poor and rural areas. Furthermore, relative to the current climate, future compound events would disproportionally affect the global terrestrial carbon sink.

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.

Coral reefs, with their colourful biodiversity, are icons of nature tourism. Leveraging social media data, this study finds that live reefs attract tourists, supporting local conservation, but that such tourism harms especially the healthiest reefs.

Extreme weather patterns prove particularly detrimental to sustainable development when they occur as compound phenomena. Compound drought–heatwave events are projected to increase up to tenfold and negatively impact socio-economic productivity and potential terrestrial carbon sequestration.

The stability of energy supply chains is an increasingly urgent global problem. Liquefied natural gas exported from Qatar is seen by some as a potential solution. However, the country’s infrastructure is highly vulnerable to oil spills in the Persian Gulf with the potential to further upset global gas supplies.

Producing beef sustainably at a global level is a challenge given the multiple trade-offs between the economic and environmental objectives involved. This study presents an approach that helps to identify such trade-offs at the scale needed for the beef industry to become more sustainable.

The Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA) has Earth’s largest tropical rainforest and a history of tension around its fate. Between 2001 and 2018, this study finds that Indigenous territories and protected areas in the BLA have expanded and reduced deforestation markedly, with some gains eroded in recent areas.

Materials popular for insulation and noise reduction are typically derived from petroleum or minerals or have other environmental costs. This study reports a scalable material for thermal insulation and noise reduction derived from treated wood.

Bioplastics from renewable biomass could help address the widespread white pollution; however, their end-of-life management remains little explored. Here the authors show a chemical recycling technique that enables closed-loop life cycle for lignin-sourced non-isocyanate polyurethane foams.

Zinc batteries are receiving growing attention due to their sustainability merits not shared by lithium-ion technologies. Here the aqueous electrolyte design features unique solvation structures that render Zn–air pouch cell excellent cycling stability in a wide temperature range from −60 to 80 °C.

Ensuring a net-zero emissions future requires decarbonizing the steel sector. This study shows that net-zero-emission production of steel is possible, but this would only be possible in limited quantities for steels of certain quality if current downcycling practices continue.