Pub Date : 2025-10-07DOI: 10.1038/s41893-025-01657-y
Yang Fu, Xue Ma, Xiao-Wen Zhang, Ze Li, Chuyao Wang, Kaixin Lin, Yiying Zhou, Aiqiang Pan, Xu Chen, Xin Li, Wenqi Wang, Chui Ting Kwok, Yi-Hao Zhu, Xiao Xue, Xin Zhao, Andrey L. Rogach, Longnan Li, Wei Li, Chi Yan Tso
Passive radiative cooling offers a sustainable solution to reduce carbon emissions in space cooling by simultaneously reflecting sunlight and emitting thermal radiation. However, the super-white property of conventional passive radiative cooling materials poses challenges for large-scale urban applications by conflicting with aesthetic requirements and neglecting impacts on urban microclimate and pedestrian thermal and visual comfort. Here inspired by the biological photoadaptation of coral, we present photoluminescence-based aesthetic composites as innovative urban skins that harness the enhanced light conversion of rare-earth-doped phosphors while decoupling from light-scattering-based whiteness, providing cool colours with improved urban compatibility. These composites demonstrate effective spectral reflectance of over 100% and peak reflectance up to 141% in their emission regions, despite a moderate overall solar reflectance (90.2–93.2%). With vivid yet angle-insensitive green, yellow and red appearances, the composites achieve subambient temperature reductions of 2.2–3.7 °C compared with ambient air and 6.1–7.9 °C relative to their non-photoluminescent counterparts. Moreover, their moderate whiteness alleviates excessive thermal and visual stress induced by trapping of sunlight in urban environments. Featuring excellent durability, compatibility and stability, these composites offer a scalable solution for energy-efficient and aesthetically pleasing radiative cooling in architecture, textiles and beyond, advancing passive radiative cooling technologies towards diverse real-world implementations. Radiative cooling is an emerging technology for cooling with reduced energy consumption. Here the authors present photoluminescent composites that combine subambient cooling with aesthetic colour, hydrophobicity and durability.
{"title":"Photoluminescent radiative cooling for aesthetic and urban comfort","authors":"Yang Fu, Xue Ma, Xiao-Wen Zhang, Ze Li, Chuyao Wang, Kaixin Lin, Yiying Zhou, Aiqiang Pan, Xu Chen, Xin Li, Wenqi Wang, Chui Ting Kwok, Yi-Hao Zhu, Xiao Xue, Xin Zhao, Andrey L. Rogach, Longnan Li, Wei Li, Chi Yan Tso","doi":"10.1038/s41893-025-01657-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-025-01657-y","url":null,"abstract":"Passive radiative cooling offers a sustainable solution to reduce carbon emissions in space cooling by simultaneously reflecting sunlight and emitting thermal radiation. However, the super-white property of conventional passive radiative cooling materials poses challenges for large-scale urban applications by conflicting with aesthetic requirements and neglecting impacts on urban microclimate and pedestrian thermal and visual comfort. Here inspired by the biological photoadaptation of coral, we present photoluminescence-based aesthetic composites as innovative urban skins that harness the enhanced light conversion of rare-earth-doped phosphors while decoupling from light-scattering-based whiteness, providing cool colours with improved urban compatibility. These composites demonstrate effective spectral reflectance of over 100% and peak reflectance up to 141% in their emission regions, despite a moderate overall solar reflectance (90.2–93.2%). With vivid yet angle-insensitive green, yellow and red appearances, the composites achieve subambient temperature reductions of 2.2–3.7 °C compared with ambient air and 6.1–7.9 °C relative to their non-photoluminescent counterparts. Moreover, their moderate whiteness alleviates excessive thermal and visual stress induced by trapping of sunlight in urban environments. Featuring excellent durability, compatibility and stability, these composites offer a scalable solution for energy-efficient and aesthetically pleasing radiative cooling in architecture, textiles and beyond, advancing passive radiative cooling technologies towards diverse real-world implementations. Radiative cooling is an emerging technology for cooling with reduced energy consumption. Here the authors present photoluminescent composites that combine subambient cooling with aesthetic colour, hydrophobicity and durability.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"8 11","pages":"1328-1339"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145547322","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-06DOI: 10.1038/s41893-025-01673-y
Bo Xu, Zhanwei Liu, Shuyue Yan, Rafael J. P. Schmitt, Xiaogang He
{"title":"Publisher Correction: Strategizing renewable energy transitions to preserve sediment transport integrity","authors":"Bo Xu, Zhanwei Liu, Shuyue Yan, Rafael J. P. Schmitt, Xiaogang He","doi":"10.1038/s41893-025-01673-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-025-01673-y","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"8 11","pages":"1409-1409"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-025-01673-y.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145547330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-03DOI: 10.1038/s41893-025-01596-8
Koen J. J. Kuipers
Expanding protected areas helps to conserve biodiversity but can increase food prices and reliance on imports owing to land competition. A new study finds that adopting healthier diets could ease these challenges of area-based conservation.
{"title":"Healthy diets support conservation","authors":"Koen J. J. Kuipers","doi":"10.1038/s41893-025-01596-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-025-01596-8","url":null,"abstract":"Expanding protected areas helps to conserve biodiversity but can increase food prices and reliance on imports owing to land competition. A new study finds that adopting healthier diets could ease these challenges of area-based conservation.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"8 10","pages":"1111-1112"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145335936","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-03DOI: 10.1038/s41893-025-01595-9
Patrick von Jeetze, Isabelle Weindl, Justin Andrew Johnson, Pasquale Borrelli, Panos Panagos, Tobias Meyer, Florian Humpenöder, Pascal Sauer, Jan Philipp Dietrich, Hermann Lotze-Campen, Alexander Popp
Conservation benefits from dietary change are commonly assessed without accounting for different conservation objectives. By representing fine-scale habitat and landscape change within a dynamic land-system model, we assess how a partial or full transition to healthier diets would affect indicators across the ‘Nature for Nature’ and ‘Nature for Society’ conservation value perspectives. We find that most diet-related conservation benefits are already achieved by a partial shift to healthier diets. This is because, particularly in many countries in tropical Africa and Asia, adopting healthier diets would mainly involve substituting staple foods with more varied plant-based foods rather than replacing resource-intensive livestock products. Conservation action in line with the Global Biodiversity Framework, by contrast, most consistently improves outcomes across both value perspectives, even under current demand trends, showing that spatial planning is central for decoupling conservation outcomes from food demand. However, any progress towards healthier diets not only lowers greenhouse gas emissions but also reduces barriers to effective conservation, such as higher food prices and imports. This study examines the outcomes of dietary shifts across intrinsic and instrumental conservation perspectives, finding that most conservation benefits already come from a partial shift to healthier, more plant-based diets, whereas greater benefits depend on more targeted conservation action.
{"title":"Conservation outcomes of dietary transitions across different values of nature","authors":"Patrick von Jeetze, Isabelle Weindl, Justin Andrew Johnson, Pasquale Borrelli, Panos Panagos, Tobias Meyer, Florian Humpenöder, Pascal Sauer, Jan Philipp Dietrich, Hermann Lotze-Campen, Alexander Popp","doi":"10.1038/s41893-025-01595-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-025-01595-9","url":null,"abstract":"Conservation benefits from dietary change are commonly assessed without accounting for different conservation objectives. By representing fine-scale habitat and landscape change within a dynamic land-system model, we assess how a partial or full transition to healthier diets would affect indicators across the ‘Nature for Nature’ and ‘Nature for Society’ conservation value perspectives. We find that most diet-related conservation benefits are already achieved by a partial shift to healthier diets. This is because, particularly in many countries in tropical Africa and Asia, adopting healthier diets would mainly involve substituting staple foods with more varied plant-based foods rather than replacing resource-intensive livestock products. Conservation action in line with the Global Biodiversity Framework, by contrast, most consistently improves outcomes across both value perspectives, even under current demand trends, showing that spatial planning is central for decoupling conservation outcomes from food demand. However, any progress towards healthier diets not only lowers greenhouse gas emissions but also reduces barriers to effective conservation, such as higher food prices and imports. This study examines the outcomes of dietary shifts across intrinsic and instrumental conservation perspectives, finding that most conservation benefits already come from a partial shift to healthier, more plant-based diets, whereas greater benefits depend on more targeted conservation action.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"8 10","pages":"1130-1142"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-025-01595-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145335941","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-02DOI: 10.1038/s41893-025-01652-3
Laura M. Pereira, Sally Archibald, Odirilwe Selomane, Kim Zoeller, Mohammed Armani, James Kairo, Barney Kgope, Duncan M. Kimuyu, Blandina R. Lugendo, Denise Nicolau, Mike I. Olendo, Kelly Ortega-Cisneros, Lynne J. Shannon, U. Rashid Sumaila
Nature-based climate solutions tend to overlook Africa’s diverse contexts and development priorities. We propose six guiding principles centred on the aspirations of African peoples, recognizing the cultural connection of communities to their environments and the role of biodiversity in sustaining livelihoods and identities.
{"title":"Six principles to get natural climate solutions right in Africa","authors":"Laura M. Pereira, Sally Archibald, Odirilwe Selomane, Kim Zoeller, Mohammed Armani, James Kairo, Barney Kgope, Duncan M. Kimuyu, Blandina R. Lugendo, Denise Nicolau, Mike I. Olendo, Kelly Ortega-Cisneros, Lynne J. Shannon, U. Rashid Sumaila","doi":"10.1038/s41893-025-01652-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-025-01652-3","url":null,"abstract":"Nature-based climate solutions tend to overlook Africa’s diverse contexts and development priorities. We propose six guiding principles centred on the aspirations of African peoples, recognizing the cultural connection of communities to their environments and the role of biodiversity in sustaining livelihoods and identities.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"8 11","pages":"1238-1241"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145547329","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lack of transparency and standardization in experimental design and performance evaluation hinders the real-world applications of advanced oxidation processes — critical technologies in wastewater treatment. Here, we highlight the common pitfalls in advanced oxidation process research and propose practices to guide future studies.
{"title":"Best practices for advanced oxidation processes","authors":"Hongyu Zhou, Wei Ren, Shaobin Wang, Xiaoguang Duan","doi":"10.1038/s41893-025-01655-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-025-01655-0","url":null,"abstract":"Lack of transparency and standardization in experimental design and performance evaluation hinders the real-world applications of advanced oxidation processes — critical technologies in wastewater treatment. Here, we highlight the common pitfalls in advanced oxidation process research and propose practices to guide future studies.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"8 12","pages":"1428-1431"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145772791","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-01DOI: 10.1038/s41893-025-01648-z
Herbert O. B. Duarte, Karen Mustin, Carlos Eduardo Costa-Campos, Salustiano V. Costa-Neto, Isaí Jorge de Castro, Helenilza Ferreira Albuquerque Cunha, Alan Cavalcanti da Cunha, Renato R. Hilário, Fillipe Pedroso-Santos, Jéssica C. E. Vilhena, Philip M. Fearnside, William D. Carvalho
Oil drilling has been proposed at the mouth of the Amazon River in one of the most protected states in the Brazilian Amazon, Amapá. If the pending project is approved, drilling is likely to go ahead in 19 other oil blocks in this region, where biodiversity and the socio-economic well-being of local populations could be at risk.
{"title":"Threats of Brazil’s new oil drilling frontier","authors":"Herbert O. B. Duarte, Karen Mustin, Carlos Eduardo Costa-Campos, Salustiano V. Costa-Neto, Isaí Jorge de Castro, Helenilza Ferreira Albuquerque Cunha, Alan Cavalcanti da Cunha, Renato R. Hilário, Fillipe Pedroso-Santos, Jéssica C. E. Vilhena, Philip M. Fearnside, William D. Carvalho","doi":"10.1038/s41893-025-01648-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-025-01648-z","url":null,"abstract":"Oil drilling has been proposed at the mouth of the Amazon River in one of the most protected states in the Brazilian Amazon, Amapá. If the pending project is approved, drilling is likely to go ahead in 19 other oil blocks in this region, where biodiversity and the socio-economic well-being of local populations could be at risk.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"8 10","pages":"1105-1107"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145335947","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-01DOI: 10.1038/s41893-025-01660-3
Angelos Alamanos
Volker Sieber, Chair of the Global Bioeconomy Alliance (GBA) and Rector of the Straubing Campus at the Technical University of Munich, Dulce Siqueira Silva, President of the University Rankings Commission at the Sao Paulo State University (UNESP), and Gerhard Schenk, Secretary of the GBA and Coordinator of Bioeconomy Research at the University of Queensland, talk to Nature Sustainability about the mission, success and prospects of the GBA.
{"title":"An alliance for the bioeconomy","authors":"Angelos Alamanos","doi":"10.1038/s41893-025-01660-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-025-01660-3","url":null,"abstract":"Volker Sieber, Chair of the Global Bioeconomy Alliance (GBA) and Rector of the Straubing Campus at the Technical University of Munich, Dulce Siqueira Silva, President of the University Rankings Commission at the Sao Paulo State University (UNESP), and Gerhard Schenk, Secretary of the GBA and Coordinator of Bioeconomy Research at the University of Queensland, talk to Nature Sustainability about the mission, success and prospects of the GBA.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"8 12","pages":"1432-1434"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145772835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-29DOI: 10.1038/s41893-025-01650-5
Bassel Daher
How can sustainability science avoid paralysis in the face of complexity and ensure it catalyses meaningful action? The key lies in practising the science and art of simplexity, argues Bassel Daher.
{"title":"Simplexifying sustainability","authors":"Bassel Daher","doi":"10.1038/s41893-025-01650-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-025-01650-5","url":null,"abstract":"How can sustainability science avoid paralysis in the face of complexity and ensure it catalyses meaningful action? The key lies in practising the science and art of simplexity, argues Bassel Daher.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"8 11","pages":"1236-1237"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145547327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-26DOI: 10.1038/s41893-025-01626-5
Bo Xu, Zhanwei Liu, Shuyue Yan, Rafael J. P. Schmitt, Xiaogang He
Hydropower is vital for climate mitigation by enabling low-carbon energy systems, but hydropower dams also trap sediment, a crucial resource for ecosystems and climate adaptation along downstream coastlines. Here we present a multisectoral integrated water–sediment–energy planning framework that fully internalizes the impacts of hydropower expansion, both on energy system costs and on foregone ecosystem services from reduced sediment supply for the Mekong River Basin. Our analysis indicates that full development of large hydropower could reduce sediment flows to the Mekong Delta by 41.2 ± 6.6 megatonnes per year (75 ± 9%). However, strategically replacing 19 high-sediment-trapping hydropower plants with solar, wind and energy storage alternatives could preserve up to 98% of sediment supply, with only a 4–6% (US$15.7–26.0 billion) increase in energy system costs over 2020–2050. Crucially, when sediment-related benefits—valued at US$12–28 million per megatonne per year—are considered, the additional costs of preserving sediment supply are nearly offset. The proposed framework offers a transferable approach to support sustainable low-carbon energy transitions while safeguarding sediment-dependent ecosystems worldwide. Hydropower is a clean energy source but dams trap river sediment, decreasing delivery downstream and to coastlines. In the Mekong River Basin, replacing some hydropower dams with solar, wind and energy storage facilities could maintain energy supply while reducing impact on sediment transport.
{"title":"Strategizing renewable energy transitions to preserve sediment transport integrity","authors":"Bo Xu, Zhanwei Liu, Shuyue Yan, Rafael J. P. Schmitt, Xiaogang He","doi":"10.1038/s41893-025-01626-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-025-01626-5","url":null,"abstract":"Hydropower is vital for climate mitigation by enabling low-carbon energy systems, but hydropower dams also trap sediment, a crucial resource for ecosystems and climate adaptation along downstream coastlines. Here we present a multisectoral integrated water–sediment–energy planning framework that fully internalizes the impacts of hydropower expansion, both on energy system costs and on foregone ecosystem services from reduced sediment supply for the Mekong River Basin. Our analysis indicates that full development of large hydropower could reduce sediment flows to the Mekong Delta by 41.2 ± 6.6 megatonnes per year (75 ± 9%). However, strategically replacing 19 high-sediment-trapping hydropower plants with solar, wind and energy storage alternatives could preserve up to 98% of sediment supply, with only a 4–6% (US$15.7–26.0 billion) increase in energy system costs over 2020–2050. Crucially, when sediment-related benefits—valued at US$12–28 million per megatonne per year—are considered, the additional costs of preserving sediment supply are nearly offset. The proposed framework offers a transferable approach to support sustainable low-carbon energy transitions while safeguarding sediment-dependent ecosystems worldwide. Hydropower is a clean energy source but dams trap river sediment, decreasing delivery downstream and to coastlines. In the Mekong River Basin, replacing some hydropower dams with solar, wind and energy storage facilities could maintain energy supply while reducing impact on sediment transport.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"8 11","pages":"1314-1327"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-025-01626-5.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145547325","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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