Sustainability articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors compared the performance of a range of rural water supply types during drought in Ethiopia. They show that prioritising access to groundwater via multiple improved water sources and technologies, such as hand-pumped and motorised boreholes, supported by monitoring and proactive operation and maintenance increases rural water supply resilience.

    • D. J. MacAllister
    • , A. M. MacDonald
    •  & R. Calow

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The hydrogenation of CO2 into valuable chemicals is greatly demanded, but suffers from complex product distribution. Here, the authors reported that, as a support and ligand, silica boosts cobalt catalysts to selectively hydrogenate CO2 into the desired methanol product.

    • Lingxiang Wang
    • , Erjia Guan
    •  & Feng-Shou Xiao

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    While electrosynthesis represents a green and advantageous alternative to traditional synthetic methods, electrochemical reactions still suffer from some drawbacks that require further efforts in order to fully express the potential of electricity-driven transformations. In this Comment, we will briefly discuss both the advantages and limitations of electrosynthesis, especially when compared with the other traditional synthetic organic methods, and share some forward-looking thoughts on the future developments of electrochemical reactions.

    • Yong Yuan
    •  & Aiwen Lei

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The impact on inadequate water quality on water scarcity is unclear. Here the authors quantify China’s present-day water scarcity and show that inadequate water quality exacerbates China’s water scarcity, which is unevenly distributed across the country.

    • Ting Ma
    • , Siao Sun
    •  & Chenghu Zhou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cycloalkenes are bulk petrochemicals that are currently obtained from fossil fuels. Here, the authors developed multi enzyme pathways in combination with a Ru-catalyzed metathesis reaction for the one-pot production of cyclopentene, cyclohexene, and cycloheptene from olive oil-derived intermediates.

    • Shuke Wu
    • , Yi Zhou
    •  & Thomas R. Ward

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Indole oxidation represents a fundamental organic transformation delivering valuable nitrogen compounds. Here, the authors report a general halide catalysis protocol applied to three classes of oxidation reactions of indoles with oxone as a sustainable terminal oxidant.

    • Jun Xu
    • , Lixin Liang
    •  & Rongbiao Tong

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Plastic pollution is a purely anthropogenic problem and cannot be solved without large-scale human action. Motivating mitigation actions requires more realistic assumptions about human decision-making based on empirical evidence from the behavioural sciences enabling the design of more effective interventions.

    • Lili Jia
    • , Steve Evans
    •  & Sander van der Linden

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Irrigation buffers crop yields from extreme weather, but comes at environmental costs. Here the authors show that in India irrigation has improved wheat yield and reduced its sensitivity to heat, yet further increases are unlikely to offset the impact of warming.

    • Esha Zaveri
    •  & David B. Lobell

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    The health of the city depends on how well all the elements of this system are interconnected and operating in harmony. Here the authors introduced the concept of urbanome which is analogous to the human genome that can be used to characterise the form and functioning of cities.

    • Lidia Morawska
    • , Wendy Miller
    •  & Marie Thynell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Triacylglycerides are naturally abundant and renewable feedstock, but their chemical transformation is hindered by their stability. Here, under Lewis acid catalysis, the authors report the selective alkyl C–O bond conversion of triglycerides into C–N bonds and even apply this efficient method to PET depolymerization.

    • Hua Liu
    • , Yi-Ling Zhu
    •  & Zhi Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The empirical consequences of human explorative strategies are not fully understood. Here the authors find that during undisturbed conditions, more-explorative vessels gained no performance advantage while during a major disturbance event, explorers benefited significantly from less-impacted revenues and were also more likely to continue fishing.

    • Shay O’Farrell
    • , James N. Sanchirico
    •  & Andrew Strelcheck

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bridging homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis is a long-term pursuit in the field of catalysis. Here, the authors present results on integration of nano- and molecular catalysis via catalytic synthesis of nitrogen doped carbon layers on AlOx supported nano-Cu which can finely tune the catalytic performance of the supported copper catalyst.

    • Yajuan Wu
    • , Tao Wang
    •  & Feng Shi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Exploiting the organic adsorbate-metal oxide interaction to optimize the catalytic properties of metal oxides has been rarely explored. Here, the authors use enolic acetylacetones to modify the surface Lewis acid properties of manganese oxide, enabling a rational control of the oxidation selectivity of structurally diverse arylmethyl amines.

    • Xiuquan Jia
    • , Jiping Ma
    •  & Jie Xu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Artisanal fish fences are used for fishing along many tropical coastlines. Here, Exton et al. examine the impact footprint of artisanal fish fences, showing that they are highly non-selective, cause direct harm across the tropical seascape, disrupt ecological connectivity and create social conflict.

    • Dan A. Exton
    • , Gabby N. Ahmadia
    •  & David J. Smith

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chemo-enzymatic tandem processes allow access to more complex non-racemic products. Here, the authors show that non-ionic surfactants, especially the tailor-made surfactant TPGS-750-M, enhance the activity of alcohol dehydrogenase to afford stereopure products in a 1-pot reaction.

    • Margery Cortes-Clerget
    • , Nnamdi Akporji
    •  & Bruce H. Lipshutz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The relationships between people can have important consequences for the systems they depend on. Here the authors show that when coral reef fishers face commons dilemmas, the formation of cooperative communication with competitors can lead to positive gains in reef fish biomass and functional richness.

    • Michele L. Barnes
    • , Örjan Bodin
    •  & Nicholas A. J. Graham

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Southeast Asia’s forests play important roles in the society, but the region is a deforestation hotspot. Here, the authors examined the future changes in the region’s forests under different scenarios and found that by 2050 under a regional rivalry/rocky road scenario, the region’s forests would shrink by 5.2 million ha.

    • Ronald C. Estoque
    • , Makoto Ooba
    •  & Yuji Murayama

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Conservation decisions to protect land used by migratory birds rely on understanding species’ dynamic habitat associations. Here the authors identify conservation scenarios needed to maintain >30% of the abundances of 117 migratory birds across the Americas, considering spatial and temporal patterns of species abundance.

    • Richard Schuster
    • , Scott Wilson
    •  & Joseph. R. Bennett

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Direct α-functionalization of acetonitrile, a bulk chemical, is usually limited to its enolate chemistry. Here, the authors show an electro-oxidative C(sp3)–H bond functionalization of acetonitrile with thiols to afford tetrasubstituted olefins with high stereoselectivity.

    • Tian-Jun He
    • , Zongren Ye
    •  & Jing-Mei Huang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Deforestation for palm oil production is often attributed to large-scale, agro-industrial expansion. Here, Ordway et al. show that much recent expansion in Southwest Cameroon can be attributed to an informal sector of non-industrial producers establishing near informal, non-industrial palm oil mills.

    • Elsa M. Ordway
    • , Rosamond L. Naylor
    •  & Eric F. Lambin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cross-coupling reactions have been achieved in solution, yet tend to be inefficient in a solid state. Here, the authors report a solid-state palladium-catalyzed Buchwald-Hartwig cross-coupling using olefins as molecular dispersants, enabling reduction of solvent waste.

    • Koji Kubota
    • , Tamae Seo
    •  & Hajime Ito

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Local air quality co-benefits can provide convincing support for climate action. Here the authors revisited air quality co-benefits of climate action in the context of NDCs and found that 71–99 thousand premature deaths can be avoided each year by 2030, offsetting the climate mitigation costs on a global level.

    • Toon Vandyck
    • , Kimon Keramidas
    •  & Bert Saveyn

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Water based inks used for water-jet rewritable paper (WJRP) are an environmental friendly alternative to conventional printing, but black colour in WJRP could not be realized so far. Here the authors demonstrate black as well as other colour WJRP based on binary systems containing less-sensitive acidochromic dyes and mild proton donors.

    • Guan Xi
    • , Lan Sheng
    •  & Sean Xiao-An Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Synthesis of biaryls by coupling strategies is unavoidably accompanied by stoichiometric metal waste. Here, the authors report the homo- and cross-electrophile coupling by using hydrazine as metal surrogate, only liberating N2 and H2 as side products.

    • Leiyang Lv
    • , Zihang Qiu
    •  & Chao-Jun Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There have been growing concerns about the exploitation of workers in the fisheries sectors. Here, Tickler et al. use a country-level metric of slavery to determine the risk of fisheries-level slavery across 20 countries, and find it rises as unreported catch increases and mean value of catch decreases.

    • David Tickler
    • , Jessica J. Meeuwig
    •  & Dirk Zeller

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Catalytic reduction of CO2 and biomass derivatives is of great current interest from a sustainable chemistry perspective. Here, the authors report a manganese pincer complex able to reduce under mild conditions carboxylic acids, carbonates and even carbon dioxide using pinacolborane as reducing agent.

    • Christina Erken
    • , Akash Kaithal
    •  & Walter Leitner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Investment in watershed services programs is growing, however the factors that contribute to sustainability of such programs are unclear. Here the authors use a large database of cities around the world to show that payment schemes are more likely to be present in watersheds with more agricultural land and less protected areas.

    • Chelsie L. Romulo
    • , Stephen Posner
    •  & Robert I. McDonald

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Synthesis of primary amines via operationally simple, inexpensive and environmentally friendly methodologies has high impact in industrial settings. Here, the authors show a reductive amination process involving a ruthenium catalyst, aldehydes/ketones, ammonia, and hydrogen that displays a remarkable scope of primary amine products.

    • Thirusangumurugan Senthamarai
    • , Kathiravan Murugesan
    •  & Rajenahally V. Jagadeesh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Rising demand for ruminant meat and dairy products in developing nations drives increasing GHG and ammonia emissions from livestock. Authors show here that only long-term adoption of global best-practice in sustainable intensification buffered by a short-term coping strategy of green-source trading can offer a way forward.

    • Yuanyuan Du
    • , Ying Ge
    •  & Raphael K. Didham

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Developing sustainable and scalable nanocrystal syntheses is challenging but necessary for future technologies and the environment. Here, the authors show that using an ionic liquid to stabilize a highly reactive precursor can fulfill the major aims of sustainable nanocrystal synthesis, including high yields, energy efficiency, atom economy, and recyclability.

    • Bin Yuan
    • , Timothy Karl Egner
    •  & Ludovico Cademartiri

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cu-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction is a common bioconjugation technique; however oxidative degradation and residual copper may limit its use. Here, the authors show that ppm levels of Cu, generated in situ by solvent-mediated pipe erosion in flow, catalyze the CuAAC reaction with no product degradation.

    • Marine Z. C. Hatit
    • , Linus F. Reichenbach
    •  & Allan J. B. Watson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Climate deterioration towards desertification in North Africa following the African Humid Period has previously been associated with the emergence of pastoralism. Here, using a climate-vegetation model, the authors show that pastoralism in fact likely slowed the deterioration of orbitally-driven climate change.

    • Chris Brierley
    • , Katie Manning
    •  & Mark Maslin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The synthesis of polyethylene furanoate, a promising renewable resource-based bioplastic, still has challenges. Here the authors show that bottle-grade polyethylene furanoate can be obtained within minutes from ring-opening polymerisation of its cyclic oligomers, thereby avoiding degradation and discolouration.

    • Jan-Georg Rosenboom
    • , Diana Kay Hohl
    •  & Massimo Morbidelli

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