Microbial electrochemical technologies can enable clean energy, waste conversion, and resource recovery, according to a literature synthesis on microbe-electrode interactions and engineered bioelectrochemical systems.

Across diverse systems, tipping points are characterised by three key properties, namely self-reinforcing feedbacks, threshold behavior, and persistence, suggests a cross-disciplinary synthesis of the tipping point literature.

Optimized afforestation in Europe can reduce peak river discharge by up to 43% and evapotranspiration losses by up to 60%, and limits groundwater losses compared with non-optimized approaches, based on a data-driven framework for identifying afforestation priority sites.

Work-life balance, natural surroundings, social ties and non-materialistic mindsets raise how well people turn resources into well-being, according to a study of Japanese survey data measuring happiness efficiency.

China’s photovoltaic poverty programs raised economic output by about three percent and reduced sulfur dioxide concentrations by about four micrograms per cubic meter, according to a natural experiment using remote sensing and county-level analysis.

Oligotrophic lakes had less anoxia than eutrophic lakes in the last decade (38% vs 96%), but the fraction of the stratified period with anoxia is projected to increase, reaching around 60% in eutrophic lakes by 2100, under a high-end climate scenario.

Modeled net zero electricity systems for 2050 substitute onshore for offshore wind and incur up to 25 percent higher costs when youth preferences are integrated, according to a participatory modeling study of Norway.

Support for climate action decreases when highly realistic disaster images are suspected to be generated by artificial intelligence, as shown by three large experiments testing emotional and resistance responses to climate disaster imagery.

Routing more water from algal-rich sources increases cyanobacteria, while shifting flow toward cleaner routes improves circulation and reduces blooms, according to an environmental DNA informed modelling study.

Calcium-rich silicate rocks offer a promising alternative calcium source for Portland cement production, with thermodynamic analysis indicating up to a 30% cut in energy use; the approach also eliminates process CO₂ emissions and uses abundant feedstocks.

Complex supply chains pose an enormous challenge for decarbonising the chemical industry in the face of pressure to move towards net-zero emissions. A comment by Bakkaloglu and co-authors argues that transparency, traceability, and end-to-end governance can incentivise companies to invest in verified emissions reductions within their own value chains.

Clean technology is needed to meet India’s demand for food and fuel without compromising environmental and human health. Green ammonia production could help to boost low-carbon fuel and nitrogen fertilizer production for domestic use and export, and to innovate energy and food systems.

Successful solutions for a more sustainable world will only become broadly acceptable through vigorous and transparent debate across diverse perspectives. We are launching Communications Sustainability to host these discussions and to inform them with rigorous research.

The loss of major health surveys once backed by the United States Agency for International Development and proposed cuts to environmental programs threaten the tracking of sustainable development. Citizen science can and should be central to building stronger, more resilient data systems.