Articles in 2024

Rapid urbanization affects both local food and ecological systems in Africa. This study integrates the effects of land-use displacement and dietary shifts associated with urbanization in scenarios of future food demand to understand the impact of future urbanization on the African environment.

Paired electrosynthesis is an efficient green process that minimizes resource and energy consumption as well as waste generation. The authors demonstrate an electrolysis system that pairs CO₂ reduction to CO at the cathode with allyl alcohol oxidation to acrolein at the anode.

Ion exchange membranes play an essential role in a range of technologies critical to sustainability. Here the authors show a membrane design that features a favourable combination of good stability, high ionic conductivity and processability with demonstrated application in flow batteries.

Nanofiltration membranes play a crucial role in water purification, but it remains challenging to combine high water permeance and solute removal selectivity due to their inherent pore heterogeneity. Here the authors introduce a cinnamate-mediated polymerization method to resolve such a challenge, enabling energetically efficient water purification.

Indigenous peoples’ lands (IPLs) are important reservoirs of biodiversity; however, the extent to which these lands are affected by the growing number of biological invasions worldwide is still unknown. This study evaluates whether IPLs harbour fewer alien species compared with other lands globally.

Cities are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, but the potential of urban rivers to such emissions is not well understood. A study now quantifies the greenhouse gas concentrations, fluxes and emissions from urban rivers globally.

Transitioning to a more sustainable economic system hinges on creating jobs in support of greener activities, with challenges for incumbent workers. A suite of articles highlights the need for more sustainable jobs and how to overcome the associated research gaps and political obstacles.

Although research has consistently shown that managing natural resources more sustainably is both feasible and beneficial for jobs and livelihoods, the perception that the green transition leads to job losses prevails. We recommend strategies for wider and better communicating evidence, to decision-makers across the board, about what is needed to reap job benefits from a green transition.

Scaling up adoption of green technologies in energy, mobility, construction, manufacturing and agriculture is imperative to set countries on a sustainable development path, but that hinges on having the right workforce, argues Jonatan Pinkse.

Apprehensions about job losses in incumbent industries can hold up sustainability transformations unless policymakers bolster efforts towards job reskilling programmes, argues Marko Hekkert.

Industrial firms will need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions dramatically for the world to reach its climate change mitigation goals. Now, analysis shows that the economic and employment impacts of these reductions can vary widely, depending on which firms are targeted.

This study presents a film design that can maximize radiative cooling, transmit photosynthetically efficient light and reflect remaining sunlight in favour of photosynthsis and plant growth.

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.

Stricter regulations on ship-induced air pollution have triggered the installation of ship exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubbers), but these scrubbers pollute the seas. A study shows that the private economic benefits of installing scrubbers come at the expense of marine environmental damage and that the scrubber systems are paid off in only a few years.

Environmental health is an under-studied aspect of the One Health approach, despite being equally important to human, animal and plant health. Now, a study, aiming to redress this imbalance, shows the potential ecotoxicological effects of treating cattle with insecticide to control mosquitoes that spread malaria.