January 14, Nature Sustainability Journal Conference held in Beijing. The conference was co-hosted by Springer Nature Group, Tsinghua University and the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom. Xue Qikun, vice chancellor of Tsinghua University and Monica Contestabile, editor in chief of Nature Sustainability, attended the conference and delivered speeches.

Nature Sustainability is a new online journal founded by Springer Nature Group in 2018 and was first released on January 8. Professor Zhang Qiang from the Department of Earth Sciences, Tsinghua University, and researchers from the School of Environment published an article titled "Targeted Remediation of High-pollution Generators in the World" at the inaugural issue. For the first time, the article sets up a database of air pollution emissions in the power sector by units on a global scale and identifies the high-pollution generating units and their contribution to global air pollution emissions.

In his speech, Xue Qikun said that with the global population expansion and the increasingly tense resources, the pursuit of sustainable development has become a common challenge for all mankind. All countries in the world have actively explored and innovated the path of sustainable development with the support of relevant scientific researches. Tsinghua University has set up institutes such as Global Change Research Institute, Center for Ecological Civilization, and Global Institute for Sustainable Development. It is committed to conducting interdisciplinary research to promote sustainable development. Xue Qikun hoped that "Nature Sustainability" will provide scientists, decision makers and the public with a platform for high-level exchanges to promote dialogue among all parties and promote global sustainable development research.

Monica Contestabile introduces the background and purpose of the journal. Nature Sustainability publishes high-level basic research, applied research and policy analysis articles on sustainable development in the fields of natural sciences, social sciences, engineering and policy, as well as related news and commentary articles. The journal will work hard to break the discipline limit and explore the relationship, problems, decision-making and possible solutions for the various factors of sustainable development.

Professor Qian Yi from Tsinghua University School of Environment congratulated "Nature Sustainability" for starting publication. She said that since the concept of sustainable development was put forward in the 1980s, researchers all over the world have made great contributions to promoting sustainable development. In the future, it is hoped that young researchers can pay more attention to this field and make more achievements.

Gong Peng, director of the Department of Earth System Science at Tsinghua University, said that we are facing problems that have never been encountered in the past, such as resource depletion, environmental pollution, ocean acidification, disease transmission, biodiversity degradation and climate change. Humans have realized that we are competing with Mother Nature and that we can change the Earth with such a powerful force that we can rival geological changes. Whether or not we can solve the challenges we face today, the biggest issue is how to make the world develop in a sustainable manner. Scientific developments are being reorganized into new disciplines to accommodate these changes and to solve these problems among reorganized scientists. Tsinghua University Department of Earth System Science will foster interdisciplinary research and share relevant achievements with domestic and foreign counterparts in the new issue.

He Kebin, dean of Tsinghua University's Environmental School, academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Xue Lan, dean of Tsinghua University's School of Public Management, also addressed the meeting. Conference hosted by Academician He Kebin.