Global development has been heavily reliant on the overexploitation of natural resources since the Industrial Revolution. With the extensive use of fossil fuels, deforestation, and other forms of land-use change, anthropogenic activities have contributed to the ever-increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere, causing global climate change. In response to the worsening global climate change, achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 is the most pressing task on the planet. To this end, it is of utmost importance and a significant challenge to reform the current production systems to reduce GHG emissions and promote the capture of CO 2 from the atmosphere. Herein, we review innovative technologies that offer solutions achieving carbon (C) neutrality and sustainable development, including those for renewable energy production, food system transformation, waste valorization, C sink conservation, and C-negative manufacturing. The wealth of knowledge disseminated in this review could inspire the global community and drive the further development of innovative technologies to mitigate climate change and sustainably support human activities.

The commercially available high temperature superconductors (HTS) tapes and wires (BSSCO and REBCO) are introduced and the past and present projects to build fusion devices using HTS based magnets are reviewed. The main design options for high current, high field conductors are presented with the related R&D and the open issues. Depending on the material, the cable layout and the application specific needs, the challenges for HTS magnet technology are different, ranging from the anisotropic properties of the REBCO tapes, to the large volume heat treatment under high pressure for Bi-2212, to the ability to withstand the large transverse loads, to the optimization of the electrical connections for segmented coil assembly, to the ambitious target of fully demountable TF coils for tokamaks. For the generation of magnetic fields larger than 18–20 T, the HTS represents the enabling technology. The use of the expensive HTS can be better justified for applications, which are out of range for conventional, low temperature superconductors (LTS). Eventually, a roadmap for future R&D is sketched focusing on medium term technology milestones, e.g. addressing the issue of quench protection in HTS large magnets, the industrial manufacture of robust high current HTS cables and the engineering design/demonstration of demountable winding packs.

The Keda Torus eXperiment (KTX) is a medium-sized reversed field pinch (RFP) device under construction at the University of Science and Technology of China. The KTX has a major radius of 1.4 m and a minor radius of 0.4 m with an Ohmic discharge current up to 1 MA. The expected electron density and temperature are, respectively, 2 × 10 19 m −3 and 800 eV. A combination of a stainless steel vacuum chamber and a thin copper shell (with a penetration time of 20 ms) surrounding the plasma provides an opportunity for studying resistive wall mode instabilities. The unique double-C design of the KTX vacuum vessel allows access to the interior of the KTX for easy first-wall modifications and investigations of power and particle handling, a largely unexplored territory in RFP research leading to demonstration of the fusion potential of the RFP concept. An active feedback mode control system is designed and will be implemented in the second phase of the KTX program. The recent progress of this program will be presented, including the design of the vacuum vessel, magnet systems and power supplies.