In a new study, researchers suggest the need for an integrated framework to assess sustainable economic growth, one that tracks global stocks and flows of natural capital. Their study examined globally comprehensive monetary damages from particulate matter air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in more than 150 countries. Their results show that modeling monetary damages instead of physical measures of environmental quality yields results that can inform policy decisions about future growth and development.

In a new policy brief, scientists from the Complexity Science Hub and other international research institutions highlight the urgent need for the G20 to lead efforts in collecting comprehensive supply chain data to safeguard the global economy. 

The EU’s sustainable finance framework urgently needs to expand. In its current form, the taxonomy will not meet the Paris Climate Agreement target of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C.

Creating sustainable chemicals and developing better waste management will contribute to better sustainability. This research is part of figuring out how to make green hydrogen available for waste management using catalysts. Shetty’s research uses solvents in low amounts that also act as hydrogen sources to break down a specific class of plastics called condensation polymers, which include polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, packaging, textiles, and 3D printing. 

In a new multidisciplinary study published in the PNAS, a group of researchers from neuroscience and economics at the IMT School of Advanced Studies Lucca links the debated concept of "ego depletion", that is to say the diminution of willpower caused by previous exploitation of it, to physical changes in the areas that govern executive functions in the brain. In particular, the fatigue appears to correspond, in the awake brain, to an increase of the EEG waves typical of sleep in the frontal cortex zone dedicated to making decisions.