Sustainability articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cellulose biocomposites from nanocellulose or plant fibers with polymer matrix are often not degradable and suffer from insufficient mechanical properties to replace established materials. Here, the authors demonstrate the fabrication of hydrolytically degradable polymers through in-situ polymerization of new functionally balanced oligomers within high-content lignocellulose reinforcement networks.

    • Erfan Oliaei
    • , Peter Olsén
    •  & Lars A. Berglund

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Most of the intensive human activities usually occur in lowlands. Here the authors report that human activity expansions also were widely distributed in Asian highlands in the 21st century and held dual effects, which provides new insights for regional human activity expansions.

    • Chao Yang
    • , Huizeng Liu
    •  & Guofeng Wu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Atmospheric water harvesting by MOF-based devices is critically dependent on weather conditions. Here, the authors report a MOF-based adaptive water harvesting system capable of adapting its cycles to temperature and relative humidity fluctuations throughout the day, continuously optimizing water production.

    • Husam A. Almassad
    • , Rada I. Abaza
    •  & Kyle E. Cordova

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Inverse vulcanization is a process that enables to convert sulfur, a by-product of the petroleum industry, into polymers. Here the authors report a synthetic method of inverse vulcanization via mechanochemical synthesis; compared to thermal routes, a broader range of monomers can be used, and the protocol yields materials with enhanced mercury capture capacity.

    • Peiyao Yan
    • , Wei Zhao
    •  & Tom Hasell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Lignin valorization becomes the spotlight on the full utilization of biomass. Here, the authors report a highly dispersed Ru catalyst for reductive catalytic fractionation of lignocellulose, which affords monophenols in theoretical maximum yields, along with high preservation of carbohydrate.

    • Zhenzhen Liu
    • , Helong Li
    •  & Guoyong Song

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Using CO2 as C1-feedstock for the chemical industry has attracted great attention. Here the authors develop a two-step cascade process to perform catalytic carbonylations of olefins, alkynes, and aryl halides using CO2 and H2.

    • Rui Sang
    • , Yuya Hu
    •  & Matthias Beller

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Using shallow geothermal energy systems to recycle the heat accumulating in the subsurface due to climate change and urbanization is a feasible, sustainable, and opportunistic alternative to conventional space heating in the face of climate change

    • Susanne A. Benz
    • , Kathrin Menberg
    •  & Barret L. Kurylyk

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The relationship between new greenspaces and gentrification is an important one for urbanization. Here the authors show a positive relationship for at least one decade between greening in the 1990s–2000s and gentrification that occurred between 2000–2016 in 17 of 28 studied cities in North America and Europe.

    • Isabelle Anguelovski
    • , James J. T. Connolly
    •  & Joaquin Martinez Minaya

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Deuterium-labelled compounds are useful for mechanistic studies and pharmaceutical science, but syntheses are not trivial. Here, the authors report deuteration of unactivated alkyl (pseudo)halides driven by electrochemical force, using deuterium oxide as the source of the isotope.

    • Pengfei Li
    • , Chengcheng Guo
    •  & Youai Qiu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A horizon scan was used to explore possible impacts of robotics and automated systems on achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Positive effects are likely. Iterative regulatory processes and continued dialogue could help avoid environmental damages and increases in inequality.

    • Solène Guenat
    • , Phil Purnell
    •  & Martin Dallimer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    ‘Polyethylene terephthalate is a widely used polymer with a concerning environmental impact, and alternatives are now highly sought. In this article, the authors present a biorefinery strategy for constructing polyester analogues of polyethylene terephthalate from woody biomass, which are promising candidates for the circular economy.

    • Xianyuan Wu
    • , Maxim V. Galkin
    •  & Katalin Barta

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Using optimization models with climate, crop & economic data, the authors show that India can stop groundwater depletion, reduce energy use and meet food/nutrition targets by changing where it sources crops for its food procurement and distribution system.

    • Naresh Devineni
    • , Shama Perveen
    •  & Upmanu Lall

  • Article
    | Open Access

    To solve the serious problem of white plastic pollution many degradation routes are being investigated. Here the authors show a H2-free low-cost Cu/SiO2 catalyzed process to quantitatively convert polyethylene terephthalate into p-xylene and ethylene glycol in one pot with methanol as both the solvent and hydrogen source at 210 °C.

    • Zhiwen Gao
    • , Bing Ma
    •  & Chen Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A study of how the Greater London electric vehicle charging network is affected by flooding reveals disproportionate impacts on already-stressed parts of the network, peaking as far as over 10 km away from the flooded regions.

    • Gururaghav Raman
    • , Gurupraanesh Raman
    •  & Jimmy Chih-Hsien Peng

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Miscalculating the volumes of water withdrawn for irrigation, the largest consumer of freshwater in the world, jeopardizes sustainable water management. Hydrological models quantify water withdrawals, but their estimates are unduly precise. Model imperfections need to be appreciated to avoid policy misjudgements.

    • Arnald Puy
    • , Razi Sheikholeslami
    •  & Andrea Saltelli

  • Article
    | Open Access

    ‘Commercial fisheries have decimated keystone species, including oysters in the past 200 years. Here, the authors examine how Indigenous oyster harvest in North America and Australia was managed across 10,000 years, advocating for effective future stewardship of oyster reefs by centering Indigenous peoples.’

    • Leslie Reeder-Myers
    • , Todd J. Braje
    •  & Torben C. Rick

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ultrathin two-dimensional metal oxyhalides show excellent photocatalytic properties with unique electronic and interfacial structures. Here, the authors develop a top-down desalination strategy to engineer ultrathin bimetallic two-dimensional material for photocatalytic atmospheric carbon dioxide reduction.

    • Xuezhen Feng
    • , Renji Zheng
    •  & Hong Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Biomass conversion holds promise as a more sustainable source of platform chemicals, but limitations in the ways in which lignin can be broken down is a current bottleneck. Here the authors report an electrocatalytic hydrogenolysis over skeletal Ni that cleaves diaryl ethers, chemically resistant moieties in both renewable carbon sources and persistent organic pollutants.

    • Yuting Zhou
    • , Grace E. Klinger
    •  & James E. Jackson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Taking action to reduce risks of labor abuse and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the fishing sector is hindered by a lack of spatially explicit data and an understanding of different drivers of risks. Here the authors combine expert assessments with satellite information to map and quantify risks of labor abuse and IUU fishing at port, at sea and associated with transshipment globally.

    • Elizabeth R. Selig
    • , Shinnosuke Nakayama
    •  & Jessica L. Decker Sparks

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Population growth in the coming decades will lead to increasing land conversion to urban areas. Here, the authors use spatially explicit projections of global urban expansion to analyze its effects on habitat changes, and terrestrial mammals, birds and amphibians under the main shared socioeconomic pathways.

    • Guangdong Li
    • , Chuanglin Fang
    •  & Xiaoping Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    As of now, only rule-based systems support retrosynthetic planning using biocatalysis, while initial data-driven approaches are limited to forward predictions. Here, the authors extend the data-driven forward reaction as well as retrosynthetic pathway prediction models based on the Molecular Transformer architecture to biocatalysis.

    • Daniel Probst
    • , Matteo Manica
    •  & Teodoro Laino

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Current recycling methods suffer from harsh reaction conditions and long reaction times. Here the authors show a non-thermal plasma-assisted method for rapid hydrogenolysis of polystyrene at ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure, generating high yield (>40 wt%) of C1–C3 hydrocarbons.

    • Libo Yao
    • , Jaelynne King
    •  & Zhenmeng Peng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A new study shows that tropical silvopasture systems can provide significant cooling services for local communities, and identifies where these silvopasture systems can most effectively counteract global climate change to help communities adapt to warming.

    • Lucas R. Vargas Zeppetello
    • , Susan C. Cook-Patton
    •  & Yuta J. Masuda

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Proteins, other metabolites and many valuable synthetic products contain amide bonds and there is a need for more sustainable amide synthesis routes. Here the authors show an integrated next generation multi-catalytic system, merging nitrile hydratase enzymes with a Cu-catalysed N-arylation reaction in a single reaction vessel, for the construction of ubiquitous amide bonds.

    • Luis Bering
    • , Elliott J. Craven
    •  & Jason Micklefield

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The recalcitrance of lignocellulosic biomass is the major limitation for the production of natural gas. Here the authors develop a catalytic-drive approach with Ni2Al3 alloy catalyst to enable nearly complete conversion of various agricultural and forestry residues into natural gas.

    • Xiaoqin Si
    • , Rui Lu
    •  & Fang Lu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Critically lists tend to ignore the fact that most metals are largely used in alloy form. Here the authors analyze four key metrics and show that six critical metals can be singled out for enhanced concern – Dy, Sm, V, Nb, Te, and Ga.

    • T. E. Graedel
    • , Barbara K. Reck
    •  & Alessio Miatto

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Grignard reagents have widespread utility in organic chemistry, but their preparation is limited by several drawbacks, such as the use of dry organic solvents and long reaction times. Here, the authors report a general mechanochemical synthesis of Grignard reagents in paste form in air, using a ball milling technique.

    • Rina Takahashi
    • , Anqi Hu
    •  & Hajime Ito

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ammonia emissions from agricultural sources can cause severe health impacts. Here, the authors show that about 25% of global agricultural ammonia emissions in 2012 were related to international exported goods and caused 61 thousand PM2.5 related premature deaths, which points out large ammonia mitigation potential in international trade.

    • Rong Ma
    • , Ke Li
    •  & Jing Meng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Time-resolved in situ (TRIS) X-ray powder diffraction promises great potential to study mechanochemical processes. Here, the authors develop a strategy to enhance the resolution of TRIS experiments to allow deeper interpretation of mechanochemical transformations; the method is applied to a variety of model systems including inorganic, metal-organic, and organic mechanosyntheses.

    • Giulio I. Lampronti
    • , Adam A. L. Michalchuk
    •  & Franziska Emmerling

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Household air pollution derived from cooking fuels is a major source of health and environmental problems. Here, the authors provide detailed global, regional and country estimates of cooking fuel usage from 1990 to 2030 and project that 31% of people will still be mainly using polluting fuels in 2030.

    • Oliver Stoner
    • , Jessica Lewis
    •  & Heather Adair-Rohani

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There is much uncertainty on use and impact of pesticides in organic agriculture. Here, the authors compare pesticide use in conventionally and organically managed fields in Kern County (US), finding that organic fields are less likely to be treated but, when they are, they receive similar pesticide amount as the conventional fields.

    • Ashley E. Larsen
    • , L. Claire Powers
    •  & Sofie McComb

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Deep eutectic solvents (DES) are intriguing green reaction media for biomass processing, however, undesired lignin condensation is a typical drawback. Here the authors develop a tunable ternary DES system that allows for stabilization of reactive intermediates for efficient lignocellulose fractionation.

    • Yongzhuang Liu
    • , Noemi Deak
    •  & Katalin Barta

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Crop diversification could be important for food security. Here, using methods from network science, the authors find that a positive relationship between crop diversity and nutritional stability globally does not necessarily equate to improving nutritional stability in a given country.

    • Charlie C. Nicholson
    • , Benjamin F. Emery
    •  & Meredith T. Niles

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