Volume 4 Issue 10, October 2021

Natural capital accounting will confirm what we know — without change, we are headed for environmental disaster resulting from economic growth. We propose a natural capital bank, a new institution to help maintain natural capital adequacy and chart a course to a sustainable future via accounting.

Cooking with solid fuels is a major source of early death and ill health among lower-income Indians. The same group also suffers disproportionately from air pollution generated by other, more general sources.

Plastics have posed substantial environmental and human health risks, therefore their design, manufacturing and disposal should incorporate sustainability considerations. Now a study reports success in developing hydroplastics from renewable cellulosic biomass that can be shaped in water.

Electroreduction of carbon dioxide is an enabling technology that can produce valuable chemicals, notably C₁ (for example, formic acid and carbon monoxide) and C₂ chemicals (for example, ethylene and ethanol), with a minimal or even negative carbon footprint. Now, a techno-economic analysis shows that only the C₁ products can achieve competitive prices, while substantial improvements in process economics are needed for C₂.

Emergency frames in sustainability debates can stimulate collective action on issues for which it is lacking but can have consequences. This Review examines the political effects of emergency frames in sustainability and develops a typology of different effects to build a shared vocabulary for analysis and decision-making.

A longitudinal cohort study shows a positive effect of exposure to woodland in urban areas on cognitive development and emotional and behavioural well-being in children, but no effect of blue space or grassland.

A quantification of PM_2.5 pollution finds that mortality risk lies disproportionately within low-income households, and that addressing their indoor air pollution sources can avert more absolute deaths, yet wealthier individuals are more responsible for the emissions.

Urea is one the most-used synthetic nitrogen fertilizers that have been key to feeding a growing population. However, its production is energy intensive. Here, the authors show an electrocatalytic approach that allows for selective urea synthesis from nitrate and carbon dioxide at ambient conditions.

Eco-friendly processing of plastics could leverage the advantages of plastics while maximizing their environmental sustainability. Here the authors show a cellulose cinnamate polymer that could be repeatedly programmed into various 2D or 3D stable shapes through a sustainable hydrosetting process.

Capturing the carbon from energy crops—bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS)—requires water to grow the crops. This study finds that although unlimited irrigation could increase BECCS potential by 60–71% by 2100, doing so sustainably would increase it by only 5–6%.

Southeast Asia contains half the world’s tropical mountain forests. This study finds increasing mountain forest loss there, with the clearing frontier moving higher in the 2010s and causing unprecedented carbon loss.

Climate change will alter the distribution of tuna, impacting the economies of Pacific Small Island Developing States. This study finds that greater greenhouse gas emissions will worsen these impacts.

Low-temperature CO₂ electrolysis is a promising process for producing renewable chemicals and fuels. This work provides a systematic techno-economic assessment of four major products, prioritizing technological development, and proposes guidelines to facilitate market adoption.