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The effects of expanding electric vehicle charging stations on housing values are unknown. This study fills the gap with data for California and finds that properties near charging stations show a higher price, while traffic slightly increases and particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions decrease.
Understanding global forces impacting forests is increasingly vital. This study finds that human factors follow climate as the most important factors affecting forest structure globally and are the dominant factor regionally, even in many protected areas and so-called intact forest landscapes.
Managing landscapes sustainably is challenging given the competing interests of different stakeholder groups. By combining broad ecological data with information on the ecosystem service priorities of multiple stakeholder groups, this study provides a tool to quantify the social impact of land-use changes.
Access to clean cooking is a critical issue in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). An open-source spatial tool comparing the relative potential of different cookstoves on the basis of their costs and benefits is developed and applied to SSA and shows the potential to increase the effectiveness of targeted interventions.
The stability of energy supply chains is an increasingly urgent global problem. Liquefied natural gas exported from Qatar is seen by some as a potential solution. However, the country’s infrastructure is highly vulnerable to oil spills in the Persian Gulf with the potential to further upset global gas supplies.
Dairy manure spread on crop fields leads to air and water pollution that could be mitigated through manure processing systems that capture methane to produce electricity. A recent US policy opening wholesale electricity markets to distributed energy resource systems, creates incentives to deploy manure processing systems.
Coral reefs, with their colourful biodiversity, are icons of nature tourism. Leveraging social media data, this study finds that live reefs attract tourists, supporting local conservation, but that such tourism harms especially the healthiest reefs.
Zinc batteries are receiving growing attention due to their sustainability merits not shared by lithium-ion technologies. Here the aqueous electrolyte design features unique solvation structures that render Zn–air pouch cell excellent cycling stability in a wide temperature range from −60 to 80 °C.
Materials popular for insulation and noise reduction are typically derived from petroleum or minerals or have other environmental costs. This study reports a scalable material for thermal insulation and noise reduction derived from treated wood.
Ensuring a net-zero emissions future requires decarbonizing the steel sector. This study shows that net-zero-emission production of steel is possible, but this would only be possible in limited quantities for steels of certain quality if current downcycling practices continue.
Extreme weather patterns prove particularly detrimental to sustainable development when they occur as compound phenomena. Compound drought–heatwave events are projected to increase up to tenfold and negatively impact socio-economic productivity and potential terrestrial carbon sequestration.
Bioplastics from renewable biomass could help address the widespread white pollution; however, their end-of-life management remains little explored. Here the authors show a chemical recycling technique that enables closed-loop life cycle for lignin-sourced non-isocyanate polyurethane foams.
The Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA) has Earth’s largest tropical rainforest and a history of tension around its fate. Between 2001 and 2018, this study finds that Indigenous territories and protected areas in the BLA have expanded and reduced deforestation markedly, with some gains eroded in recent areas.
Producing beef sustainably at a global level is a challenge given the multiple trade-offs between the economic and environmental objectives involved. This study presents an approach that helps to identify such trade-offs at the scale needed for the beef industry to become more sustainable.
