Volume 6 Issue 2, February 2023

Herman Daly, one of the founders of ecological economics, has died at the age of 84. His work questioning the pursuit of economic growth, and articulating the alternative of a steady-state economy, has been foundational to sustainability science.

A lack of regional and international collective action is the greatest barrier to achieving global environmental sustainability. Game theoretic experiments suggest that introducing shared goals could offer a path forward.

Many tropical reefs are also active community fisheries, posing a complex management challenge. Taking into account reef fish turnover as well as biomass could inform better management for both conservation and sustainable use.

Huge volumes of a diverse range of minerals are required to shift the world to renewable energy. An analysis now shows that many of these are being sourced from the lands of vulnerable people.

Progress on poverty eradication has yet to deliver access to basic services such as electricity and running water for all. Redistribution, better technologies and different lifestyles can address inequality without exacerbating climate change or degrading ecosystems.

A study of historical trends in nations’ use of phosphorus fertilizers has set targets for crop yield and phosphorus-use efficiency, identifying techniques that can be used to ensure these targets are met by 2050.

Moving from a glacial-hydrological focus to a social-ecological perspective of the wider catchment hydrology can improve the assessment of mountain water security. Such a shift can help in the development of context-specific and transformational adaptation strategies to changes in the mountain cryosphere.

Self-governing institutions can allow communities, via cooperation, to avoid overuse of common-pool resources. Experiments performed through an online game platform show that when users share common goals, they self-organize in cooperative behaviour, leading to long-term resource sustainability.

Sustaining tropical reefs in the Anthropocene is a vital challenge. This study proposes guiding regional conservation on the basis of ecological processes and finds that the biomass and productivity of reef fish provide complementary information for management.

Aviation is a major contributor to climate change. This study assesses the potential of bioenergy crops planted in the US Midwest to meet projected US jet-fuel demand in 2040, finding that planting roughly 23.2 million hectares of marginal land with miscanthus would meet this need.

Electrocatalytic reduction of nitrogen has emerged as a sustainable means for the production of ammonia. Here the authors design bimetallic Fe–Co single-atom catalysts dispersed on carbon that enable unprecedented ammonia yield rates.

Thermoelectric materials could reduce energy losses by converting waste heat from various processes into electricity. To cater to the needs of wearable devices, the authors design Bi₂Te₃-based thin films that show both excellent thermoelectric performance and long-sought flexibility.

Human diets exert a range of pressures on the environment. This study, using a sample of French adults, finds that the processing and packaging behind diets rich in ultra-processed foods create pressures involving energy use in particular.

Transitioning the global energy system to renewables will likely expand energy transition minerals and metals (ETMs) projects to sensitive territories. Across 5,097 projects globally, greater than half of the ETM resource base appears to be located on or near the lands of Indigenous and peasant peoples whose rights to consultation are embedded in United Nations declarations.

The environmental implications of meeting the needs of the poorest are under debate. By showing substantial inequalities in natural resource claims and responsibility for ecological damage globally, this study estimates and discusses the impacts of achieving just access on the Earth system.

Progress towards global targets for clean water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is advanced through evidence-informed decision-making. This study finds that the data from the only global school WASH database published by the Joint Monitoring Programme are amenable to statistical analysis but cannot yet support rigorous quantitative research.