A wealth of critical minerals has driven widespread artisanal mining in the Congo Basin, bringing with it the risk of deforestation. Statistical analysis of remote-sensing data reveals that mining-associated deforestation is dominated by indirect factors, land-use change to support mining communities, rather than the direct impacts of the onset of mining.

Cellulose is the most abundant renewable biopolymer resource in nature. Here the authors convert cellulose to an electrolyte through molecular engineering showing good performance in solid-state Li-ion batteries.

Combined food–energy production systems can help improve resource-use efficiency, but the extent to which such systems contribute to sustainable development has not yet been fully explored. This study evaluates this system in double-cropped maize ethanol production in Brazil.

Various preventive measures are used to avoid non-target species or bycatch in fishing operations, but the success of such measures is not well understood. This study evaluates the effects of technical mitigation measures on both vulnerable marine fauna bycatch and target catch.

Soil processes involved in agricultural practices emit considerable levels of nitrous oxide, which detrimentally contribute to climate change. This study explores strategies to reduce nitrous oxide emissions while maintaining crop productivity in the US maize–soybean rotational cropping system.

Innovative educational methods can be difficult to spread across universities and instructors. This study examines the best routes to rapidly scale new methods in sustainability education.

Sustainably extracting rubidium (Rb), a valuable critical metal, from alternative sources remains challenging. Here the authors report a crystal ripening microextraction strategy that allows efficient Rb extraction from potassium chloride salts, with large environmental and economic benefits.

The transition towards a sustainable food system that enhances the adoption of healthy diets globally is an urgent challenge. A study shows how the EAT-Lancet diet requirement could be met through sustainable agricultural strategies reducing land and water constraints.

Despite net cropland expansion in recent decades, substantial areas of cropland have been abandoned for a variety of socioeconomic reasons. This study evaluates the effects of such cropland abandonment on bird and mammal species across four continents.

The combination of high energy density and sustainability makes the lithium–sulfur battery a technology of growing importance. Here the authors show a polymeric cathode design that enables impressive performance in practical pouch cells.

Sustainable coexistence with wildfire requires overcoming vicious cycles that trap socio-ecological systems in maladaptive states. A carefully coordinated programme of innovation, education and governance, the ‘wildfire adaptation triad’, is essential for escaping maladaptation across national, community and individual scales.

Urban soils are often overlooked in climate resilience planning and policy. We advocate for a broader framing of urban soils within an equity-centred social ecological framework that acknowledges the role of soils as essential infrastructure and enhances investment to maximize their benefits towards resilient urban futures.

A new start for multilateralism is what UN Member States are focusing on, but achieving it won’t be easy and won’t be enough to deliver sustainable development. Addressing the multifaceted root causes of discrimination, inequalities and injustice across scales should be the priority.

Continuing to produce nature-based credits using dubious accounting methodologies will yield limited carbon and biodiversity gains. Establishing scientific credibility unlocks the potential of credits to meaningfully contribute to targets of the Paris and Kunming-Montreal agreements.

The sustainability community is increasingly calling for transformation, but action to transform is too slow. Nature Sustainability and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation have convened an expert panel to address the issue and recommend a way forward.

Green production of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) with a sunlight-driven or renewable-energy-powered electrochemical process provides a path to its decentralized production and sustainable end-use. Here, we discuss how to develop a fairer basis for performance evaluation of (photo)electrosynthesis of H₂O₂.