Featured
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Article |
Using machine learning to assess the livelihood impact of electricity access
Advancements in satellite imagery and machine learning can be used to infer the causal impact of electricity access on livelihoods, providing a low-cost, generalizable approach to evaluating public policy in data-spare environments.
- Nathan Ratledge
- , Gabe Cadamuro
- & Marshall Burke
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Editorial |
Farming feeds the world. We desperately need to know how to do it better
Interventions designed to improve agricultural practices often lack a solid evidence base. A new initiative could change that.
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Research Highlight |
A fortune in gold is buried in electronic waste
US consumers could generate more than one billion pieces of e-waste a year by 2033.
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Article |
Quantifying the cost savings of global solar photovoltaic supply chains
Modelling shows that a globalized solar photovoltaic module supply chain has resulted in photovoltaic installation cost savings of billions of dollars.
- John Paul Helveston
- , Gang He
- & Michael R. Davidson
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Editorial |
Do the science on sustainability now
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are not a priority for research in high-income countries. That must change.
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Article |
From planetary to regional boundaries for agricultural nitrogen pollution
Modelling of regional and planetary boundaries for agricultural nitrogen pollution finds that the global nitrogen surplus boundary is lower than the current nitrogen surplus.
- L. F. Schulte-Uebbing
- , A. H. W. Beusen
- & W. de Vries
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Editorial |
A big chance for science at the heart of global policymaking
The UN’s top leadership is reaching out to the scientific community to help inform decision making — a welcome move in a highly uncertain world.
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Correspondence |
Forests: collect social as well as ecological data
- Rose Pritchard
- , Geoff Wells
- & Casey M. Ryan
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Research Highlight |
Food crisis driven by Ukraine war could put wild lands to the plough
As food prices rise because of Russia’s war on Ukraine, nations are likely to cope by converting forests and grasslands to farm fields, modelling shows.
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Comment |
How to stop cities and companies causing planetary harm
Researchers must help to define science-based targets for water, nutrients, carbon emissions and more to avoid cascading effects and stave off tipping points in Earth’s systems.
- Xuemei Bai
- , Anders Bjørn
- & Johan Rockström
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Article
| Open AccessComprehensive evidence implies a higher social cost of CO2
Coupling advances in socioeconomic projections, climate models, damage functions and discounting methods yields an estimate of the social cost of carbon of US$185 per tonne of CO2—triple the widely used value published by the US government.
- Kevin Rennert
- , Frank Errickson
- & David Anthoff
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Correspondence |
Agricultural sustainability in Chile’s proposed new constitution
- Andrés Muñoz-Sáez
- & Leah L. R. Renwick
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News Round-Up |
Tired brains, COVID rebound and sustainable foods
The latest science news, in brief.
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Spotlight |
What bats can teach us about urban design
Kate Jones thinks the natural world can inspire a dialogue about cities that are sustainable and healthy for humans and other animals.
- Rachael Pells
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Spotlight |
Cities embrace their water — and build resilience
Briony Rogers helps cities to connect to their environment to better survive drought and storm surges.
- Bianca Nogrady
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Spotlight |
How technology can help make urban transport work for people
A data-driven approach helps Lynette Cheah to tackle concerns about self-driving buses and delivery-truck congestion.
- Andy Tay
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Spotlight |
Turning city planning into a game
Ursula Eicker lets people play around while designing the cities of the future.
- Brian Owens
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Spotlight |
Why Japan is building smart cities from scratch
Purpose-built sustainable communities can boost energy efficiency and support an ageing population.
- Tim Hornyak
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Article |
When and where to protect forests
A dynamic optimization approach using plant species data from 458 forest ecoregions suggests a strategy for when and where to conserve forests globally over the next 50 years to maximize the conservation of plant biodiversity.
- Ian H. Luby
- , Steve J. Miller
- & Stephen Polasky
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News Round-Up |
Multicoloured Mars, drone delivery and dust-storm disease
The latest science news, in brief.
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News |
Healthier foods are better for the planet, mammoth study finds
Analysis of 57,000 multi-ingredient foods reveals which have the best and worst environmental impacts.
- Freda Kreier
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Correspondence |
IPBES responds to critics of its assessment of wild-species use
- John S. Donaldson
- , Marla R. Emery
- & Jean-Marc Fromentin
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Correspondence |
Decarbonize pedagogy — apply sustainable development goals
- Paul G. Leahy
- & Benjamin K. Sovacool
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News |
Drones bearing parcels deliver big carbon savings
Last-mile delivery by a small drone takes much less energy per parcel than delivery by diesel truck.
- Freda Kreier
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Research Highlight |
Sea creatures’ sun shades inspire low-cost ‘smart’ windows
Dots of inky pigment spread in branching patterns, allowing close control of shade cover.
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Career Q&A |
How my lab went from 4,000 kg to 130 kg of waste a year
Cutting out single-use plastics was the beginning of a sustainability transformation, says Jane Kilcoyne.
- Jacinta Bowler
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News Round-Up |
AI baby, post-quantum algorithms and food transport emissions
The latest science news, in brief.
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Correspondence |
Himalayas: create an international peace park
- Jun Gao
- , Dinesh Bhuju
- & Pitamber Sharma
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News |
Transporting food generates whopping amounts of carbon dioxide
Moving fruit and vegetables in refrigerated vehicles is particularly emissions-intensive.
- Freda Kreier
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Comment |
Six research priorities to support corporate due-diligence policies
Laws to stamp out deforestation, pollution and child labour in global supply chains might have unintended consequences. Researchers need to investigate these effects.
- Jorge Sellare
- , Jan Börner
- & David Wuepper
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Research Highlight |
Vast tropical tree farms push into biodiversity hotspots
Much of the tree growth in the tropics in the first decade of the century consists of plantations — not natural forest.
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Correspondence |
Fifty years after UN environment summit, researchers renew call for action
- Maria Ivanova
- & Sharachchandra Lele
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News |
Metal-lifespan analysis shows scale of waste
Mining metals has a rising environmental cost. But high losses and low recycling rates mean that many last only a short time.
- Freda Kreier
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Correspondence |
Sustainable seas: overdue SDG target could be met this year
- Sarat Babu Gidda
- , R. V. V. Padmavati
- & Jo Mulongoy
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Correspondence |
Sustainability for Chile’s mountains — a united approach
- José Tomás Ibarra
- , Julián Caviedes
- & Carla Marchant
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Article |
Projected environmental benefits of replacing beef with microbial protein
Replacing 20% of per-capita ruminant consumption with microbial protein can offset future increases in global pasture area, cut annual deforestation and related CO2 emissions in half, and lower methane emissions.
- Florian Humpenöder
- , Benjamin Leon Bodirsky
- & Alexander Popp
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Comment |
Act now before Ukraine war plunges millions into malnutrition
Governments, donors and others must step up to protect current and future generations from the devastating effects of malnutrition, as well as to prevent acute food insecurity.
- Saskia Osendarp
- , Gerda Verburg
- & Marie T. Ruel
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Editorial |
The war in Ukraine is exposing gaps in the world’s food-systems research
Russia’s invasion is the latest threat to the stability of world food supplies. Researchers must act now to halt the cycle of repeated food crises.
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Book Review |
Climate change — four decades of missed opportunities
The United States should learn from its mistakes on decarbonization.
- Alexandra Witze
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World View |
Give refugees dignity, wherever they are
Displaced children and adults can wait decades to return home or resettle — research and policy must catch up.
- Serena Parekh
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Book Review |
Global population is crashing, soaring and moving
From Japan to Yemen, India to Ukraine, rates of births, deaths and displacement are reshaping nations.
- Josie Glausiusz
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World View |
Broken bread — avert global wheat crisis caused by invasion of Ukraine
Russia’s war highlights the fragility of the global food supply — sustained investment is needed to feed the world in a changing climate.
- Alison Bentley