Sustainable gold extraction from ore and electronic waste

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 26 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01586-wGold has a vital role in human society and the global economy, but its production currently causes high levels of environmental pollution. This work reports an approach that can effectively produce gold from both primary and secondary resources without the use of toxic substances such as mercury or cyanide.

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Adaptive capacity for multimodal transport network resilience to extreme floods

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 25 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01575-zExtreme weather events will require resilient and adaptive critical infrastructure. This study models adaptive transitions in collective travel behaviour during flood events across different cities to quantify recovery and adaptive learning from failures and reveal adaptation drivers.

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Child diet diversity and irrigation expansion in the global south

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 24 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01584-yIrrigation is an important component of agricultural productivity, but its influence on health and nutritional outcomes—especially those of children—remains unclear. This study examines the links between irrigation expansion and child diet diversity across 26 countries in the global south.

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Weathering the storm

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 23 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01590-0Shutting down environmental agencies and scientific research is not just counterproductive to America’s economy and health, it is a conflict against the pursuit of truth and the principles of sound evidence and good governance.

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Selective extraction of valuable hydrocarbons

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 23 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01588-8Crude oil contains multiple valuable hydrocarbons used for material synthesis, but their separation involves a laborious and energy-intensive multistep distillation process. Now, scientists introduce a simple two-step separation of important hydrocarbons from crude oil under ambient conditions using selective chemistry.

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Advancing membrane technology in organic liquids towards a sustainable future

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 23 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01570-4This Review highlights how membrane technology can drive sustainability and steer industries towards a sustainable future, providing perspectives on materials, manufacturing processes and applications with respect to energy saving, process intensification and environmental impacts.

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A strategic environmental water rights market for Colorado River reallocation

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 20 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01585-xOver exploitation of the Colorado River system, a critical water supply for North America, has resulted in a steep decline in the health of native fish species. Developing strategic water markets in the Colorado River headwaters can restore habitat while conserving water resources.

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Biodiversity change under human depopulation in Japan

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 12 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01578-wHuman population growth over the past few decades has had detrimental impacts on biodiversity; however, several countries, such as Japan, are experiencing below-replacement human fertility leading to depopulation. This study examines the impact of human depopulation on biodiversity levels across Japan.

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Multi-benefit diet changes in China

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 06 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01582-0Transformation to healthier and more sustainable diets in China can generate measurable benefits for nutrition, the environment and food affordability. Integrating multidimensional sustainability goals into China’s dietary guidelines can help to align food policy with long-term societal and environmental improvements.

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Bio-based hot-melt adhesive from xylan

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 04 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01579-9Developing nontoxic high-performance bio-based adhesives is of great interest from a sustainability perspective. This paper reports a high-performance, reusable, biocompatible hot-melt adhesive that is produced from xylan, a byproduct of pulp industry.

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Spin crossover-driven diiron electrocatalyst boosts sustainable water oxidation

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 02 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01571-3This work shows an iron molecular catalyst for water oxidation, a critical reaction for renewable energy technologies. The excellent performance of the catalyst is attributed to an intermediate dinuclear structure formed via spin crossover.

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Collaborative energy and land use planning

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 29 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01580-2Energy models make projections for infrastructure, yet struggle to map deployment pathways at the ground level, where risks and benefits to human and natural systems materialize. A study now shows how blending in geospatial science can help to preserve natural capital while allowing for new infrastructure to be built.

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Negotiating risks to natural capital in net-zero transitions

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 29 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01576-yNet-zero policies can put pressure on land use, which can conflict with preserving natural landscapes, cultural sites and agricultural areas. Now a study integrates national energy models with proactive and collaborative planning to design net-zero pathways that conserve natural capital and address diverse concerns.

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Effects of demand and recycling on the when and where of lithium extraction

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 29 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01561-5Powering electric vehicles hinges on the availability to extract lithium from reserves. Modelling now shows the likely number of new lithium deposit openings required by 2050 if the demand for larger battery packs continues and suggests moderating battery size and improving recycling to reduce mine openings.

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Photocatalytic upcycling of polysulfones at ambient conditions

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 28 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01569-xDespite pressure to improve the circularity of polysulfone plastic waste, upcycling polysulfones remains technically challenging. This study presents a photocatalytic method that can upcycle various polysulfones into valuable chemicals at ambient conditions.

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Synergistic gas–slag scheme to mitigate CO2 emissions from the steel industry

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 28 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01572-2Decarbonizing the steel industry is essential for achieving sustainable development. Here the authors propose a decarbonization strategy for the steel industry that could substantially reduce carbon emissions and is easily adaptable to existing facilities.

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Leveraging biodiversity to maximize nutrition and resilience of global fisheries

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 27 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01577-xMarine and freshwater fisheries around the world have had stagnating stocks due to increased demands in food from a growing human population. Authors here assess how biodiversity levels of fisheries around the world can be leveraged to maximize nutrients provided with less biomass.

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Upcycling surplus acetone into long-chain chemicals using a tandem electro-biosystem

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 26 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01568-yThe phenol industry faces a pressing sustainability challenge from the production of acetone as a by-product at a level far beyond its market. Here the authors develop an electro-biosystem that can efficiently convert such surplus acetone into valuable long-chain commodity chemicals.

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Effective progress and implementation of the INC-5 plastics treaty through scientific guidance

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 23 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01574-0The fifth negotiation round for a legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution concluded without an agreed text and will resume at INC-5.2 in August 2025. Scientific evidence and inputs remain vital in informing the final stage of negotiations and ensuring the final treaty is robust and effective.

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Ocean future

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 23 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01581-1The plans to achieve a sustainable ocean economy are shaping up — it’s up to decision makers to implement them. The world is waiting.

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Ten principles for transforming economics in a time of global crises

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 22 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01562-4Unconventional economic approaches with transformative potential for sustainability are too dispersed to gain sufficient traction in policy. With qualitative content analysis, this study brings coherence to many documents discussing such approaches to support efforts towards mainstreaming them.

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Forest biodiversity and structure modulate human health benefits and risks

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 19 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01547-3The benefits and risks of nature to human health have been studied, however, robust empirical research on forest biodiversity and health outcomes is still lacking. Here the authors use a unique dataset from 164 European forest stands to explore the associations between forest types and well-being.

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Deltaic freshwater scarcity driven by unsustainable groundwater-fed irrigation

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 16 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01566-0Dry-season groundwater irrigation in southern Asia increases annual agricultural productivity while monsoon rains recharge aquifers. However, groundwater irrigation rates in the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna delta exceed monsoonal recharge rates, reduce available surface freshwater and increase the risk of saltwater intrusion.

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Author Correction: Electrode separation via water electrolysis for sustainable battery recycling

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 15 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01583-zAuthor Correction: Electrode separation via water electrolysis for sustainable battery recycling

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Improving land-use emission estimates under the Paris Agreement

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 15 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01565-1Climate science and national emissions reporting communities have historically used different definitions and methods for anthropogenic land-based carbon removals. As the mitigation agenda accelerates, reconciling these differences for comparability and moving towards integration is crucial for enhancing confidence in land-use emission estimates.

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Turning sun and seawater into disinfectant

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01564-2Hypochlorite is in wide industrial and domestic use as disinfectant, but its manufacture, involving the processing and transport of hazardous chemicals, is problematic. Now a safer, more sustainable alternative, powered by sunlight and seawater, has been developed.

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Bipolar electrochemical uranium extraction from seawater with ultra-low cell voltage

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 12 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01567-zSeawater is the most abundant source of uranium. This work shows a bipolar electrochemical mining process from seawater at ultra-low voltages, ensuring maximized extraction efficiency and minimized energy consumption.

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Selective and sustainable separation of hydrocarbons from crude oil via molecular sieve

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 12 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01563-3Crude oil is a mixture of different hydrocarbons, and their separation remains challenging. Here this work shows a molecular sieve that allows for direct, selective and sustainable isolation of valuable components.

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Rubber that lasts longer

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 07 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01549-1Natural rubber has many uses in a variety of industries, enabled by ‘crosslinking’ between its tangled polymers, which creates elasticity. But rubber can crack and suffer fatigue. It is now shown that reducing the crosslink density in highly entangled natural rubber increases its crack resistance and prolongs its useful life.

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