Fungal frontiers for sustainability: unlocking the hidden kingdom

Abstract

Fungi have repeatedly delivered transformative advances across industries, from medicine to food to materials, yet these breakthroughs have emerged from a narrow base of organisms and well-studied systems. Although mycology has taken a big leap forward in the past decades because of advances in genomics, multi-omics, engineering, phenotyping and environmental monitoring, much fungal diversity remains taxonomically and functionally under-characterised, and many sustainability-relevant innovations remain limited by lack of investment, sparse infrastructure, and fragmented governance. We now have technologies that make previously inaccessible fungal questions tractable, which can help unlock the next generation of fungal breakthroughs. Informed by a workshop held in December 2025 that convened 20 leading experts across fungal disciplines, here we lay out key bottlenecks to fungal research and innovation through three lenses: functional mycology, human and institutional capacity, and governance. We identify selected sustainability-relevant fungal frontiers and use these to surface the recurrent gaps that cut across domains. We propose four elements of coordinated action across research and development, governance, and advocacy that could contribute to unlocking the full potential of fungi for sustainability transitions.