Sustainable Nanotechnology

Preface

Nanotechnology, if applied strategically and carefully, can provide sustainable solutions to many global challenges and lead us toward sustainable development. Sustainable innovations derived from nanotechnology applications can help us achieve several of the 17 sustainable development goals (UN‐SDGs), a set of forward‐looking goals for the world to adopt in order to achieve economic, social, and environmental sustainability. The SDGs were formally adopted by the United Nations in 2015, which garnered universal support from all UN member states. The agenda of actions to make the SDGs achievable by 2030 exhorts all nations adopt appropriate policy changes to their respective national development goals and plans (Source: United Nations Development Programme: https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable‐development‐goals/background/). The major challenges the world is facing now, such as extreme weather, droughts, wildfires, devastating floods, sea‐level rise, loss of biological diversity, recurrence of global pandemics, and increasing poverty and income/wealth inequality within and between nations, if not addressed immediately, will lead to an uncertain future for the present and future generations.

The world is facing challenges on all three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social, and environmental. More than one billion people are still living in extreme poverty, income, and wealth inequality. The covid‐led shut down of the global economy ...