Articles in 2022

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.

The hazardous life cycle of synthetic materials is driving sustainable materials with biogenic building blocks to play a larger role. This Perspective identifies the main challenges and suggests the way forward by focusing on food packaging.

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.

Restoring the connection between people and the rest of nature hinges on whole-system science, actions and negotiations.

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.

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.

Annual grains, domesticated from wild species, have dominated agriculture since the Neolithic. A new study reports how turning to high-yield perennial rice crops could maintain key ecosystem functions while supporting livelihoods.

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.

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.

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.

Julie Zimmerman takes a complete systems-thinking approach towards lowering consumption of non-renewable resources and the technological approaches to get there. As professor of chemical and environmental engineering, environment, and epidemiology at Yale University, she is taking green chemistry to new levels.

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.

Although urgently needed for the decarbonization of our economies, the mining of rare earth elements has a poor environmental record. The use of electrokinetics promises a more efficient extraction while substantially reducing environmental impacts.

The successful breeding and cultivation of perennial rice enables up to eight grain harvests from a single planting, with reduced labour input, improved soil health and potential to affect farming systems in frost-free environments between 40° N and 40° S. Perennial rice reconciles food production with environmental security in a changing climate.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.