Articles

Agroforestry practices represent important natural climate solutions, in addition to providing a variety of socioecological benefits. This study evaluates spatiotemporal agroforestry patterns in India by tracking the fate of large farmland trees over the past decade.

Buildings account for a large proportion of the global energy consumption. Here the electrochromic smart window realizes year-round energy savings by managing visible, near-infrared and mid-infrared light.

Battery recycling is essential to the sustainability of electric vehicles. Here the authors show processes that could regenerate spent cathode materials for a second life in lithium-ion and post-lithium-ion batteries.

Industrial and agricultural activities, such as mining, smelting and farming practices, have led to widespread arsenic pollution in Chinese soils and may threaten the viability of future rice production. Ambitious mitigation measures beyond those already undertaken by the Chinese government are needed to reverse these increasing impacts.

The rapid expansion of low-carbon technologies in Brazil has multiple socio-economic impacts on rural populations by further fuelling competition for land and intensifying large-scale land deals. This study traces how global ownership of, and investment in, wind and solar photovoltaic installations has evolved over time, driving substantial privatization of public and common lands.

Malaria remains a major public health concern in sub-Saharan Africa. This study examines the use of a long-acting endectocide formulation given to livestock as a measure to control mosquito vector populations that transmit the malaria-causing parasite in Burkina Faso.

Assessing the resilience of groundwater resources can be challenging in data-sparse regions. Tritium observations and machine learning can be employed to fill gaps where traditional monitoring is insufficient and provide insight into aquifer vulnerability to pollution.

Recycling of printed circuit boards (PCBs) is currently restricted by the intrinsic materials design of conventional PCBs. This work presents a vitrimer-based PCB that shows great end-of-life recyclability.

This work shows a diagnosis technique that works for multiple cancers and features cost advantage, environmental compliance and user-friendly protocol.

Humans rely heavily on non-renewable groundwater, especially to support agricultural production. Like other depletable resources, groundwater extraction is expected to peak and subsequently decline during the twenty-first century, highlighting imminent transformations in the availability and use of water globally.

Ecosystem services provided by coral reefs to coastal communities can depend on upstream land-use change activities such as forest restoration. This study assessed the social and ecological benefits provided by different watershed interventions designed at regional and national scales in Mesoamerica.

Hydroxylamine plays a critical role in the chemical industry, but its production currently has unfavourable environmental footprint. Now a plasma-electrochemical cascade pathway powered by electricity enables efficient hydroxylamine synthesis from ambient air and water at mild conditions.

Utilizing an epoxy-amine chemistry, the authors demonstrate a thermoset epoxy that is reprocessable and tough, achieving improved sustainability for this widely used plastic material.

Safety is only one side of the coin for aqueous batteries. Here the authors show a water-in-polymer electrolyte that shows a wide electrochemical window and salt recyclability, thus addressing challenges at the other side.

Rice is a staple crop for much of the world’s population, but its production can be a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Supplemental nano iron oxides application can halve these emissions while boosting crop yield.

Carbon neutrality complicates the transition to sustainability due to potential adverse effects on employment and the prosperity of high-emitting sectors. This study simulated the Hungarian economy and tested various strategies for reducing CO₂ emissions, revealing that decarbonization-induced economic and job losses can be substantially limited by considering the firm-level network of supply chains.

Cement is a ubiquitous material in modern construction, but produces substantial carbon emissions. Emerging technologies exist that can reduce cement’s carbon footprint, but the right strategies must be implemented ambitiously and synergistically to be effective.

Evaluating the sustainability impacts of housing policies for low- and moderate-income households is challenging. This study links observations of housing programme participation and utility consumption to quantify the benefits of locally administered housing policies in a typical community in the American Southeast.

This work shows an integrated device that could harvest osmosis energy at one side and then drive efficient production of green hydrogen from seawater at the other side.

With a sustainable carbohydrate core, the proposed polyamide plastic design here can compete with fossil-based alternative in terms of both performance and cost.