This study assesses the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions for 1,025 planned green hydrogen facilities covering diverse technologies and renewable electricity sources in 72 countries, noting that well-chosen production configurations are central to green hydrogen.

Molecular design is key to the power conversion efficiency in organic photovoltaics. Jiang, Sun, Xu et al. develop a non-fullerene acceptor with asymmetric structure and phenyl-substituted side chains that minimizes photon and carrier losses, enabling 20.2% efficiency.

Smart temperature-responsive materials could enhance battery thermal safety management; however, current designs lack the necessary responsiveness for both performance and safety. Here the authors demonstrate a material that swiftly transitions from thermal transmission to isolation during thermal runaway in battery modules, thereby ensuring battery safety.

The costs of battery and fuel cell systems for zero-emission trucks are primed to decline much faster than expected, boosting prospects for their fast global diffusion and electrification of freight transport, with battery-electric trucks probably leading.

Decarbonization of transport is critical for emissions reduction goals, but understanding long-distance passenger travel patterns remains difficult. This study combines different travel surveys in England to explore long-distance travel and its oversized impact on emissions, proposing a new metric to examine decarbonization potential.

The stability of perovskite photovoltaics under reverse bias is limited and thus an issue for real-world applications. Nengxu Li and colleagues report the underlying degradation mechanism at the cathode side and a multilayer barrier to minimize it.

China’s continuing reliance on coal in district heating risks considerable carbon lock-in and hinders decommissioning of coal-fired electricity generation. This work outlines how the government can achieve its proposal to decarbonize district heating.

Non-fused ring electron acceptors may have low synthetic costs but also exhibit poor crystallinity in organic solar cells. Zeng et al. use a binary solvent system to control the crystallization and phase separation of donor and acceptor materials, achieving over 19% efficiency.

This study assesses the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions for 1,025 planned green hydrogen facilities covering diverse technologies and renewable electricity sources in 72 countries, noting that well-chosen production configurations are central to green hydrogen.

Molecular design is key to the power conversion efficiency in organic photovoltaics. Jiang, Sun, Xu et al. develop a non-fullerene acceptor with asymmetric structure and phenyl-substituted side chains that minimizes photon and carrier losses, enabling 20.2% efficiency.

The proliferation of large electric vehicles risks undermining the environmental and economic benefits of the green transport transition, argues Christian Brand.

The understanding of justice in the energy sector has now been harmonized across stakeholders, causing risk, reward and — in particular — responsibility to be reallocated towards energy companies and governments. Energy decision-makers today will be held legally accountable for past decisions, and this will influence how decisions are made today.