Nanoplastics are difficult to isolate and study due to limitations of conventional methods. We develop an aggregate-then-concentrate microfluidic device that aggregates nanoplastics into larger clusters for efficient separation, enabling rapid quantification and characterization. This facilitates environmental nanoplastic separation and detection, thus overcoming constraints of conventional microfluidics of manipulating submicron particles.

Green hydrogen production worsens water scarcity in arid, sun-rich regions. A developed durable aerogel (LMOA) enables 24-h atmospheric water harvesting. Integrated into a water sorption hydrogen production device, it produces green hydrogen continuously, addressing water-energy challenges in arid areas.

As heatwaves become more frequent and severe, they significantly worsen air quality. Our global analysis synthesizes how this synergy threatens human health and underscores the urgent need for integrated mitigation policies.

Techno-economic analysis shows that high-temperature heat pumps achieve the lowest cost of heat when considering options for industrial decarbonization in Europe, especially when combined with thermal energy storage and excess heat sources. Hydrogen boilers remain significantly less competitive, even under optimistic energy-price scenarios and idealized assumptions of free, unlimited hydrogen storage.

Since its beginnings deep in Earth’s history, life has confronted a dynamic climate, whose biological impacts play out across scales from milliseconds to millennia and from genetics to the global biosphere. We envision here a climate biostress detection system using sentinel life forms and advanced technologies to evaluate the impacts of human-dominated, accelerating global change.

This study combines projected changes in fish stock distributions and marine biomass with fishery vulnerability indicators to conduct a large-scale assessment of climate change risk to sustainable management of marine fisheries. Results highlight that efficient multinational cooperation in widely distributed large pelagic species will be particularly important to mitigate impacts.

Srikanth and Ramesh et al. present SLiNG-GHG, an open-source, streamlined model built using data from US natural gas life cycle studies. This study offers an accessible tool that broadens participation in evaluating supply-chain emissions and demonstrates the integration of methane measurements to highlight differences with bottom-up inventories.

We live in an era of escalating sustainability challenges, such as exceeding the global 1.5°C threshold in 2024, the collapse of talks to address the widespread plastic crisis, and increasing wildfire...

Lu Yu et al. present a simplified polyol-metallurgical recycling method that upgrades degraded polycrystalline NMC622 cathodes into impurity-free single-crystal materials with controlled morphology and desired electrochemical performance. This approach, using a citric acid-ethylene glycol solution for both leaching and coprecipitation, simplifies the separation and increases the efficiency of the recycling process, offering a pathway for efficient, sustainable battery cathode recycling.

Shao et al. compile detailed inventories of China’s RE flows and downstream usage and systematically trace China’s unseen indirect RE exports embedded in supply chains to meet global consumer demand. The findings reveal that over 60% of RE resources extracted in China were exported to other regions between 1990 and 2020, of which approximately 62% were direct exports and 38% were embedded indirectly in traded goods. This work shows how indirect flows reshape international RE resilience and their implications for sustainable governance.

Pfadt-Trilling and Fortier quantify the embodied emissions of nine different combinations of types and materials of weatherization retrofits to investigate the net greenhouse gas benefit of weatherizing homes in the northern United States. The results indicate that petroleum-based insulation retrofits may have a higher associated climate change impact than the energy resources that would be displaced, while other material types demonstrate a carbon footprint even lower than that of renewable energy systems.

Public debates about vegetable oil are often driven more by myth than by fact, oversimplifying complex issues and vilifying or praising certain oils while overlooking the harms (or benefits) linked to others. A better-informed approach focuses not on the crop but on management practices, governance, and transparency.

This study describes the variability in mangrove effects on storm surge losses to properties at spatial scales of kilometers, across multiple storms. Mangroves avoid annual storm surge losses by US$67 million in Collier County, with nearly 75% of these savings occurring for storms with return periods under 50 years. During a storm surge, mangroves always reduce losses for landward properties, whereas for properties inside and seaward of mangrove forests, the effect of mangroves, though net positive, is mixed and can sometimes increase damages.

Coral reef conservation is facing increasing pressure to act boldly in the face of climate-altered futures. This perspective offers five guiding principles—termed Minimum-In Minimum-Out (MIMO)—that support deliberate, ethical, and system-oriented responses. MIMO reconsiders what constitutes viable climate action and offers a responsible path between resigned inaction and technological optimism.

Identifying which factors are most predictive of home energy consumption and saving behaviors is urgently needed. This article reports the largest and most comprehensive meta-analysis of this interdisciplinary field to date. Results show that psychological factors (e.g., self-efficacy) are consistently related to home energy saving, whereas sociodemographics (e.g., gender) are not.

Electrolyte anions play a pivotal role in electrocatalytic hydrogenation of biomass-derived 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). Shenjie Lv et al. reveal that KHCO3 enhances HMF adsorption and activates carbonyl groups via hydrogen bonding, outperforming Na2SO4 and BBS. The findings offer a strategy to optimize biomass upgrading by tailoring electrolyte microenvironments, advancing sustainable chemical production.

The decline in marine biodiversity necessitates the urgent restoration of our oceans; however, these efforts face unique technical, financial, and regulatory challenges. Unlike terrestrial work, methods require improvement, and the risk of failure is high. Scaling marine restoration necessitates policy reform, innovation, and adaptive frameworks that incorporate uncertainty, promote connectivity, and foster resilient ecosystems in response to a changing climate.