Rare earths are used in the renewable energy technologies such as wind turbines, batteries, catalysts and electric cars. Current mining, processing and sustainability aspects have been described in this paper. Rare earth availability is undergoing a...
The useful life of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) has been shortened as a consequence of the advancement in technology and change in consumer patterns. This has resulted in the generation of large quantities of electronic waste (e-waste) t...
Lithium is a key component in green energy storage technologies and is rapidly becoming a metal of crucial importance to the European Union. The different industrial uses of lithium are discussed in this review along with a compilation of the locatio...
Consumers and producers are becoming more open to the usage of natural cosmetics. This can be seen in them using a variety of natural cosmetic resources and materials. This fact is further supported by the trend of environmental and health awareness....
Ecological Footprint accounting quantifies the supply and demand of Earth’s biocapacity. The National Footprint Accounts (NFA) are the most widely used Ecological Footprint (EF) dataset, and provide results for most countries and the world from...
The synthesis of inorganic nanoparticles for diverse applications is an active research area that involves physical and chemical methods, which typically are expensive, involve hazardous chemical reagents, use complex equipment and synthesis conditio...
Mining industry requires high amounts of energy to extract and process resources, including a variety of concentration and refining processes. Using energy consumption information, different sustainability issues can be addressed, such as the relatio...
Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for every organism on the Earth, yet it is also a potential environmental pollutant, which may cause eutrophication of water bodies. Wastewater treatment plants worldwide are struggling to eliminate phosphorus from...
Environmentally-extended input-output (EEIO) analysis provides a simple and robust method for evaluating the linkages between economic consumption activities and environmental impacts, including the harvest and degradation of natural resources. EEIO...
The major applications of PGMs are as catalysts in automotive industry, petroleum refining, environmental (gas remediation), industrial chemical production (e.g., ammonia production, fine chemicals), electronics, and medical fields. As the next gener...
Climate change and urbanization have resulted in several societal challenges for urban areas. Nature-based solutions (NBS) have been positioned as solutions for enhancing urban resilience in the face of these challenges. However, the body of conceptu...
The food industry is continuously evolving through the application of innovative tools and ingredients towards more effective, safe, natural and ecofriendly solutions to satisfy the demands of the costumers. In this context, natural sources (i.e., le...
Energy expansion and security in the current world scenario focuses on increasing the energy generation capacity and if possible, adopting cleaner and greener energy in that development process. However, too often this expansion and planning alters t...
The recently finalized research project “ZRR for municipal waste” aimed at testing and evaluating the automation of municipal waste sorting plants by supplementing or replacing manual sorting, with sorting by a robot with artificial intelligence (ZRR...
Collection and treatment of wastewater have a huge impact on the environment and economy, both at the local and global levels. Eco-innovation may play a paramount role in the reduction of the environmental impact of such systems, and in their greater...
Alkaline igneous complexes host deposits of rare earth elements (REE), which represent one of the most economically important resources of heavy REE and Yttrium (Y). The hosts are differentiated rocks ranging from nepheline syenites and trachytes to...
The use of rare earth elements in various technologies continues to grow despite some alternatives being found for particular uses. Given a history of ecological concerns about pollution from rare earth mines, particularly in China, there are growing...
Coastal wetlands, such as marshes, mangroves and forested swamps, are in decline globally. Although considerable progress has been made in quantifying and valuing some of the key ecosystem goods and services provided by these habitats, fundamental ch...
This perspective paper explores the rising impacts of the COVID-19 and the Russia–Ukraine war from different perspectives, with an emphasis on the role of climate financing in achieving equitable and just transition mechanisms and that of peace...
Recycling has been taking place in South Africa for more than three decades, driven by social and economic needs. While the waste hierarchy is embedded in national policy, an extensive legislative framework has made it more and more challenging for t...
Resource efficiency in production and technological innovations are inadequate for considerably reducing the current use of natural resources. Both social innovations and a complementary and equally valued strategy of sustainable consumption are requ...
Advances in plant biotechnology provide new options for collection, multiplication and short- to long-term conservation of plant biodiversity, using in vitro culture techniques. Significant progress has been made for conserving endangered, rare, crop...
Presently, there is a paradoxical situation in the global energy market related to a gap between the image of hydrocarbon resources (HCR) and their real value for the economy. On the one hand, we face an increase in expected HCR production and consum...
Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (Omega-3 PUFA) are recognized as being essential compounds for human nutrition and health. The human body generates only low levels of Omega-3 PUFA. Conventional sources of Omega-3 PUFA are from marine origin. Howe...
In view of the increasing depletion of fossil fuel resources, the concept “bioeconomy” aims at the gradual replacement of fossil fuels by renewable feedstock. Seen as a comprehensive societal transition, the bioeconomy is a complex field that include...
Depletion of abiotic resources is a much disputed impact category in life cycle assessment (LCA). The reason is that the problem can be defined in different ways. Furthermore, within a specified problem definition, many choices can still be made rega...
The assessment of the sustainability of agricultural systems is multidimensional in nature and requires holistic measures using indicators with different measurements and units reflecting social, economic, and environmental aspects. To simplify the a...
Calcium carbonate is one of the most used raw materials in various industries, such as construction materials, food supplement, pharmaceutics, animal feed, plastic production, and others. Calcium carbonate can derive from marine wastes, like crustace...
The adequacy of mineral resources in light of population growth and rising standards of living has been a concern since the time of Malthus (1798), but many studies erroneously forecast impending peak production or exhaustion because they confuse res...
An increasing number of court rulings and legislation worldwide are recognizing rights of nature to be protected and preserved. Recognizing these rights also entails the recognition that nature has the right to stand in court and to be represented fo...
This paper assesses world-wide patterns of material extraction, trade, consumption and productivity based on a new data set for economy-wide material flows, covering used materials for all countries world-wide between 1980 and 2009. We show that glob...
This article analyses the ways in which major, multinational mining companies operating within Australia understand sustainable development and articulate their “social licence to operate”. The article contributes a novel perspective to ongoing discu...
The discourse surrounding sustainability, particularly in the urban environment, has gained considerable momentum in recent years. The concept of a smart city epitomises the integration of innovative technological solutions with community-centred app...
Potential depletion of fossil fuel and climate change have globally accelerated the demand in renewable and alternative energy. Most of the Southeast Asian countries have an abundance of biomass sources for the energy sector due to their agriculture-...
Nigeria is a developing country with an insufficient supply of energy to meet the continuously growing demand. However, there are several biomass resources available within the country. This paper presents a desk review, which investigates the potent...
The discussion on the circular economy (CE) has attracted a rising interest within global policy and business as a way of increasing the sustainability of production and consumption. Yet the literature mostly portrays a Global North perspective. Ther...
Contemporary issues in agriculture and natural resource management (AGNR) span a wide spectrum of challenges and scales—from global climate change to resiliency in national and regional food systems to the sustainability of livelihoods of small-holde...
Recently the circular economy has increasingly received attention worldwide due to the recognition that the security of the supply of resources and environmental sustainability are crucial for the prosperity of all the countries and businesses. G20 c...
The European Green Deal is the new strategy for economic growth adopted by the European Commission (EC) in late 2019. One of the most important tasks in the realisation of this strategy is the mobilisation of the industry for a clean and circular eco...
Many countries have started to develop policy programs for the sustainable use of natural resources. Indicators and targets can cover both a territorial and a life-cycle-wide global perspective. This article focuses on how a safe operating space for...
Residual sludge disposal costs may constitute up to, and sometimes above, 50% of the total cost of operation of a Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) and contribute approximately 40% of the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with its opera...
This study presents an outlook on the renewable energies in Iraq, and the potential for deploying concentrated solar power technologies to support power generation in Iraq. Solar energy has not been sufficiently utilized at present in Iraq. However,...
Renewable energy has received noteworthy attention during the last few decades. This is partly due to the fact that fossil fuels are depleting and the need for energy is soaring because of the growing population of the world. This paper attempts to p...
The global impact of water and soil contamination has become a serious issue that affects the world and all living beings. In this sense, multiple treatment alternatives have been developed at different scales to improve quality. Among them, biochar...
The concept of the circular economy proposes new patterns of production, consumption and use, based on circular flows of resources. Under a scenario where there is a global shift towards the circular economy, this paper discusses the advent of two pa...
Marine macroalgae are a suitable source of ingredients due to their huge diversity, availability and nutritional and chemical composition. Their high content in proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins, but also in secondary metabolites such as phenolic...
The transition from a fossil fuel base to a renewable energy system relies on materials and, in particular, metals to manufacture and maintain energy conversion technologies. Supply constraints shift from fossil fuels to mineral resources. We assess...
Ecosystems provide a wide range of goods, services or ecosystem services (ES) to society. Estimating the impact of land use and land cover (LULC) changes on ES values (ESV) is an important tool to support decision making. This study used remote sensi...
The paper suggests a sustainable material footprint of eight tons, per person, in a year as a resource cap target for household consumption in Finland. This means an 80% (factor 5) reduction from the present Finnish average. The material footprint is...
The sustainability of global food chains and intense agricultural production has become questionable. At the same time, the consumers’ interest in short supply chains (SSCs) and direct sales from producers has increased. SSCs are connected to s...
