To achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, China must address the complex challenge of decarbonizing key industrial sectors, including steel, cement, petrochemicals, and non-ferrous metals. This review presents a comprehensive evaluation of major decarbonization technologies across these core sectors, including energy efficiency, clean electrification, hydrogen alternatives, feedstock substitution, recycling, carbon removal, and digitalization. Staged projections highlight the central role of different technologies in achieving industrial decarbonization: energy efficiency improvement (EEI) and feedstock substitution and waste recycling (FSWR) technologies before 2035, the accelerated deployment of clean electricity and green hydrogen between 2035 and 2050, and carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) from 2050 onward. The review further offers policy recommendations to support technological advancement, promote large-scale deployment, and integrate low-carbon solutions into industrial development pathways.

There are many examples of options to tackle various global challenges that have been implemented in ways that only consider the impact on the challenge they are meant to address. Because of this narrow way of thinking, we are missing out on potential synergies that would help us to deliver to multiple challenges simultaneously. Designing options from the outset to co-deliver to multiple challenges would improve efficiency and reduce total cost. It is vital that we progress beyond narrow ways of thinking, and to adopt a “nexus” approach to tackling global challenges.

A research team led by Dr. Sun-Uk Kim at the Future Animal Resource Center of the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB) has successfully developed a novel fluorescent reporter technology that enables real-time visualization of apoptosis inside living cells. By overcoming the limitations of conventional apoptosis detection methods, this breakthrough technology is expected to open new opportunities for drug discovery and biomedical research.

Sweat and food stains can ruin your favorite clothes. But bleaching agents such as hydrogen peroxide or dry-cleaning solvents that remove stains aren’t options for all fabrics, especially delicate ones. Now, researchers in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering report a simple way to remove yellow stains using a high-intensity blue LED light. They demonstrate the method’s effectiveness at removing stains from orange juice, tomato juice and sweat-like substances on multiple fabrics, including silk.