Nature Sustainability最新文献

{"title":"A fairer and more effective carbon tax","authors":"Peter Dietsch","doi":"10.1038/s41893-024-01429-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-024-01429-0","url":null,"abstract":"Given available technologies, current consumption behaviour is incompatible with the goal of keeping global warming below 2 °C. Economists present carbon pricing as the most efficient tool to induce people to adjust their consumption behaviour. This Perspective critically analyses the ethics, economics and politics of one key form of carbon pricing: carbon taxes are levied to discourage fossil-fuel-intensive consumption. The core claim of this Perspective is that progressive individual carbon taxes (that is, taxes whose rate increases the more emissions an individual generates) are not only more effective but also more just than the flat-rate carbon taxes prevalent today. Carbon taxes face several challenges in practice. This Perspective identifies three such challenges and suggests that, to meet them, carbon taxes should be designed like income taxes. The tax rate of a person should increase with the greenhouse gases the person emits through their consumption.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"7 12","pages":"1584-1591"},"PeriodicalIF":25.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142845232","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}

{"title":"Delta sustainability from the Holocene to the Anthropocene and envisioning the future","authors":"Edward Anthony, Jaia Syvitski, Florin Zăinescu, Robert J. Nicholls, Kim M. Cohen, Nick Marriner, Yoshiki Saito, John Day, Philip S. J. Minderhoud, Alessandro Amorosi, Zhongyuan Chen, Christophe Morhange, Toru Tamura, Alfred Vespremeanu-Stroe, Manon Besset, François Sabatier, David Kaniewski, Vittorio Maselli","doi":"10.1038/s41893-024-01426-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-024-01426-3","url":null,"abstract":"River deltas offer numerous ecosystem services and host an estimated global population of 350 million to more than 500 million inhabitants in over 100 countries. To maintain their sustainability into the future, deltas need to withstand sea-level rise from global warming, but human pressures and diminishing sediment supplies are exacerbating their vulnerability. In this Review, we show how deltas have served as environmental incubators for societal development over the past 7,000 years, and how this tightly interlocked relationship now poses challenges to deltas globally. Without climate stabilization, the sustainability of populous low-to-mid-latitude deltas will be difficult to maintain, probably terminating the delta–human relationship that we know today. River deltas have played a central role in the development of human societies, providing a multitude of environmental services to large populations. In the face of climate change and human impact, careful and strategic management is now required to ensure the future sustainability of habitable deltas.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"7 10","pages":"1235-1246"},"PeriodicalIF":25.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142487183","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}

{"title":"Conceptualizing just transition litigation","authors":"Annalisa Savaresi, Joana Setzer, Sam Bookman, Kim Bouwer, Tiffanie Chan, Isabela Keuschnigg, Chiara Armeni, Alexandra Harrington, Corina Heri, Ian Higham, Chris Hilson, Riccardo Luporini, Chiara Macchi, Linnéa Nordlander, Pedi Obani, Lauri Peterson, Andrea Schapper, Navraj Singh Ghaleigh, Maria Antonia Tigre, Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh","doi":"10.1038/s41893-024-01439-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-024-01439-y","url":null,"abstract":"The transition towards low-carbon societies is creating winners and losers, raising new questions of justice. Around the world, litigation increasingly articulates these justice questions, challenging laws, projects and policies that aim to deliver climate change adaptation and/or mitigation. In this Perspective, we define and conceptualize the phenomenon of ‘just transition litigation’. This concept provides a new frame for identifying and understanding the diverse justice claims of those affected by climate action. We set out a research agenda to further investigate this phenomenon, with a view to enhancing societal acceptance and support for the transition. Transitioning to low-carbon societies will mean shifts in laws as well as systems, requiring conversations about social and economic justice associated with this shift. This Perspective examines how litigation can be used to understand and facilitate these claims of justice","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"7 11","pages":"1379-1384"},"PeriodicalIF":25.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-024-01439-y.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142672762","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}

{"title":"Unlocking aquifer sustainability through irrigator-driven groundwater conservation","authors":"Maria Elena Orduña Alegría, Sam Zipper, Hoon C. Shin, Jillian M. Deines, Nathan P. Hendricks, Jonah J. Allen, Geoffrey C. Bohling, Bill Golden, Burke W. Griggs, Stephen Lauer, Chung-Yi Lin, Landon T. Marston, Matthew R. Sanderson, Steven M. Smith, Donald O. Whittemore, Blake B. Wilson, David J. Yu, Qiuyun C. Yu, James J. Butler Jr.","doi":"10.1038/s41893-024-01437-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-024-01437-0","url":null,"abstract":"Aquifer depletion due to intensive irrigation threatens global economies, food security and ecosystems. This Perspective examines the hydrological, social and economic complexities of managing groundwater resources, focusing on the Sheridan 6 Local Enhanced Management Area in the US High Plains aquifer. Here irrigator-led conservation efforts reduced groundwater use by 25% and slowed aquifer depletion by 65% while maintaining farmers’ incomes. This success resulted from a hybrid integration of bottom-up rule development with top-down enforcement, providing flexible multi-year water allocations and aligning management with local conditions. From this, we identify transferable governance tenets for sustainable groundwater management in similar regions. This Perspective analyses the key elements of the long-term success of an irrigator-led conservation programme in the United States from engineering, social and policy angles and identifies transferable governance lessons for other agricultural regions.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"7 12","pages":"1574-1583"},"PeriodicalIF":25.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142845138","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}

{"title":"Records reveal the vast historical extent of European oyster reef ecosystems","authors":"Ruth H. Thurstan, Hannah McCormick, Joanne Preston, Elizabeth C. Ashton, Floris P. Bennema, Ana Bratoš Cetinić, Janet H. Brown, Tom C. Cameron, Fiz da Costa, David W. Donnan, Christine Ewers, Tomaso Fortibuoni, Eve Galimany, Otello Giovanardi, Romain Grancher, Daniele Grech, Maria Hayden-Hughes, Luke Helmer, K. Thomas Jensen, José A. Juanes, Janie Latchford, Alec B. M. Moore, Dimitrios K. Moutopoulos, Pernille Nielsen, Henning von Nordheim, Bárbara Ondiviela, Corina Peter, Bernadette Pogoda, Bo Poulsen, Stéphane Pouvreau, Callum M. Roberts, Cordula Scherer, Aad C. Smaal, David Smyth, Åsa Strand, John A. Theodorou, Philine S. E. zu Ermgassen","doi":"10.1038/s41893-024-01441-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-024-01441-4","url":null,"abstract":"Anthropogenic activities have impacted marine ecosystems at extraordinary scales. Biogenic reef ecosystems built by the European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) typically declined before scientific monitoring. The past form and extent of these habitats thus remains unknown, with such information potentially providing valuable perspectives for current management and policy. Collating >1,600 records published over 350 years, we created a map of historical oyster reef presence at the resolution of 10 km2 across its biogeographic range, including documenting abundant reef habitats along the coasts of France, Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Spatial extent data were available from just 26% of locations yet totalled >1.7 million hectares (median reef size = 29.9 ha, range 0.01–1,536,000 ha), with 190 associated macrofauna species from 13 phyla described. Our analysis demonstrates that oyster reefs were once a dominant three-dimensional feature of European coastlines, with their loss pointing to a fundamental restructuring and ‘flattening’ of coastal and shallow-shelf seafloors. This unique empirical record demonstrates the highly degraded nature of European seas and provides key baseline context for international restoration commitments. Native oyster reef ecosystems were decimated by human activities, with little known of their past extent. This study evaluates historical records to show that oyster reefs were once a dominant feature of European coastlines and provides perspectives for current management strategies.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"7 12","pages":"1719-1729"},"PeriodicalIF":25.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-024-01441-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142845244","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}

{"title":"Author Correction: Contribution of double-cropped maize ethanol in Brazil to sustainable development","authors":"Angelo C. Gurgel, Joaquim E. A. Seabra, Sofia M. Arantes, Marcelo M. R. Moreira, Lee R. Lynd, Rosana Galindo","doi":"10.1038/s41893-024-01448-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-024-01448-x","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"8 1","pages":"120-120"},"PeriodicalIF":25.7,"publicationDate":"2024-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-024-01448-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143121546","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}

{"title":"Low-cost iron trichloride cathode for all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries","authors":"Zhantao Liu, Jue Liu, Simin Zhao, Sangni Xun, Paul Byaruhanga, Shuo Chen, Yuanzhi Tang, Ting Zhu, Hailong Chen","doi":"10.1038/s41893-024-01431-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-024-01431-6","url":null,"abstract":"The dominant chemistries of lithium-ion batteries on the market today still rely on flammable organic liquid electrolytes and cathodes containing scarce metals, such as cobalt or nickel, raising safety, cost and environmental concerns. Here we show a FeCl3 cathode that costs as little as 1% of the cost of a LiCoO2 cathode or 2% of a LiFePO4 cathode. Once coupled with a solid halide electrolyte and a lithium-indium (Li–In) alloy anode, it enables all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries without any liquid components. Notably, FeCl3 exhibits two flat voltage plateaux between 3.5 and 3.8 V versus Li+/Li, and the solid cell retains 83% of its initial capacity after 1,000 cycles with an average Coulombic efficiency of 99.95%. Combined neutron diffraction and X-ray absorption spectroscopy characterizations reveal a Li-ion (de)intercalation mechanism together with a Fe2+/Fe3+ redox process. Our work provides a promising avenue for developing sustainable battery technologies with a favourable balance of performance, cost and safety. The authors present a FeCl3 cathode design that enables all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries with a favourable combination of low cost, improved safety and good performance.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"7 11","pages":"1492-1500"},"PeriodicalIF":25.7,"publicationDate":"2024-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142672791","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}

{"title":"The ‘Pact for the Future’","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41893-024-01438-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-024-01438-z","url":null,"abstract":"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.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"7 9","pages":"1081-1081"},"PeriodicalIF":25.7,"publicationDate":"2024-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-024-01438-z.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142273362","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}

{"title":"Biodiversity impacts of recent land-use change driven by increases in agri-food imports","authors":"Livia Cabernard, Stephan Pfister, Stefanie Hellweg","doi":"10.1038/s41893-024-01433-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-024-01433-4","url":null,"abstract":"Land-use change such as the conversion of natural habitat to agricultural land has been a major driver of global biodiversity loss, prompting efforts at biodiversity restoration. However, restoration measures in certain areas can shift the detrimental biodiversity impacts elsewhere through the outsourcing of agri-food supply chains to biodiverse regions. This study examines the link between biodiversity impacts from land-use change and shifts in global supply chains from 1995 to 2022 by introducing a marginal allocation into multiregional input–output analysis. Almost 80% of recent global land-use change impacts were associated with increased agri-food exports from Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia + Pacific (excluding China). Conversely, increased imports to China, the United States, Europe and the Middle East accounted for almost 60% of recent global land-use change impacts from a consumption perspective, despite decreasing domestic impacts through restoration. Decreasing biodiversity impacts in temperate and arid regions have been partially achieved by outsourcing agri-food supply to tropical biodiversity hotspots. This results in a cumulated global extinction rate (1.4% global potential species loss since 1995), exceeding the planetary boundary by about fifty times, thus highlighting the need for policies incentivizing habitat protection in tropical regions and sustainable sourcing in agri-food supply chains. Land-use change can lead to detrimental biodiversity impacts through the conversion of natural habitat to agricultural land. This study examines the association between biodiversity impacts from land-use change and global agri-food supply chains.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"7 11","pages":"1512-1524"},"PeriodicalIF":25.7,"publicationDate":"2024-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-024-01433-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142672808","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}

{"title":"Global spillover effects of the European Green Deal and plausible mitigation options","authors":"Honglin Zhong, Yanxian Li, Jiaying Ding, Benedikt Bruckner, Kuishuang Feng, Laixiang Sun, Christina Prell, Yuli Shan, Klaus Hubacek","doi":"10.1038/s41893-024-01428-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-024-01428-1","url":null,"abstract":"Achieving European Green Deal (EGD) targets for carbon removal and ecological restoration would reduce agricultural and forestry production within the European Union yet simultaneously extend ecosystem impacts elsewhere. Here we quantify such spillover impacts by coupling an extended multi-regional input–output analysis with an agro-ecological zones model. We find that EGD’s agricultural and forestry targets set for 2030 could result in a 23.9 Mha increase in demand for agricultural land outside the European Union, which in turn would lead to an increase in land-use-related carbon emissions by 758.9 MtCO2-equivalent (244.8% of EGD’s carbon removal target in the land, land-use-change and forestry sectors) and a biodiversity loss of 3.86 million mean species abundance loss. Such spillover impacts far exceed the ecological benefits from EGD conservation-based import policies, such as promoting deforestation-free products and phasing out food-based biofuel. We then propose three options beyond the primary targets of the EGD with the aim to mitigate such spillover impacts. The assessment of these options reveals the critical role of reducing meat and dairy consumption, highlighting the impact of consumer behaviour on environmental outcomes. This raises questions about public awareness, willingness to change diets and the role of policy in influencing consumer behaviours. Achieving European Green Deal targets may benefit the European Union ecologically but increase global environmental impacts. This study quantifies such external impacts and suggests ways to minimize them","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"7 11","pages":"1501-1511"},"PeriodicalIF":25.7,"publicationDate":"2024-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-024-01428-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142672786","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}