Articles in 2026

The supply of engineered bio-based materials to meet the 2050 urban housing demand is limited by forest area, production efficiency and carbon cost of harvest, whereas low-carbon concrete is not resource-constrained and can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to life-cycle assessment

Electric vehicles could cut emissions more than gasoline and hybrid models under varied climates, electricity grids, and battery lifetimes, with the largest gains from light trucks, finds a life-cycle study of all 2023 United States light-duty vehicles.

Although 30% of streams in the contiguous United States have some protection status, only 5% of stream diversity is represented and as little as 9% of streams are effectively protected from human disturbances, according to a nationwide assessment.

Around 42% of the digital industry’s embodied emissions was assigned to other sectors’ supply chains in 2021 due to limitations in conventional greenhouse gas accounting methods, according to global input-output data analyses.

Real-time monitoring and computational prediction of the water quality index in river systems are achievable by integrating reaeration processes with hydraulic parameters into a coherent, cost-effective, and transferable genetic programming model

Perceived realism of net-zero scenarios hinges on economic costs while desirability is shaped by environmental and lifestyle impacts, according to a focus group study conducted in Japan.

In China, adopting zero-carbon buildings at a 1.5 percent annual rate could reduce 1.21 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, with cost reductions through the use of recycled materials, according to socio-economic data and a building carbon emission simulation model.

In Peru, coffee and cocoa farmers engaged with social enterprises report higher well-being than those involved in current corporate programs or cooperatives, according to an analysis that combines a household survey and statistical approach

In Australia, the geographic and relaxed temporal requirements for the use of renewable energy certificates could ensure that hydrogen is produced with minimal greenhouse gas emissions and at a low cost, according to an analysis that employs an energy system model and scenario approach

Most United Kingdom residents show limited ability to act on climate change, especially in transport, food, and civic life. A new method measures both personal habits and public efforts to reveal who feels able and motivated to push for change.

Extreme summer weather events have increased soy and corn prices in the United States Midwest over the past four decades, and the impact of excessive rainfall has intensified in recent years, according to an analysis of crop, weather, and price data.

Eutrophication and chlorophyll-rich algal blooms occurred at high concentrations of the thermoplastic polyurethane, but only occasionally with bioplastics, suggests a three-month experiment exposing plankton in experimental ponds.

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.

Geodiversity is a multidimensional concept—aggregative, evaluative, spatio-temporal, and functional—defined by dynamic interactions with the biosphere and anthroposphere, and essential for advancing sustainability.

In the Catalan Pyrenees, managing forest growth and balancing tourism and agriculture are key strategies for meeting local needs, according to a network analysis with social, economic, and environmental variables, and a classification tree.

Tree restoration at the upper limit of biophysical plausibility may contribute to climate change mitigation, primarily through carbon uptake, according to time-slice simulations at doubled atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations with a coupled atmosphere-land-slab-ocean model system.

Persistent correlations between traded goods and foreign aid purposes reveal connections to human and environmental crises that could be exacerbated by aid cuts, according to a global study using OECD aid data and trade flows to map obscure or unintended interactions between aid and trade.

Yellow River Basin water stress has eased over recent 20 years through improved efficiency, precipitation, and resources but may persist until 2045 without sustainable farming and better water management, according to an integrated socio-ecohydrological analysis.

Embedding domain knowledge as constraints improves energy efficiency and reduces lifetime carbon emissions by 60.2 million tons across 56 global coal power plants, according to a case study using machine learning and human-centric optimisation.

Organizations with strong institutional performance achieve better ecological outcomes such as reduced air pollution, according to an analysis of data on international environmental organizations between 2008 and 2018.