A nonlocal strain gradient theory (NSGT) is utilized to investigate the thermal buckling, free vibration and wave propagation in smart piezoelectromagnetic nanoplates in hygrothermal environments embedded in an elastic substrate. The main advantage of the NSGT over other continuum theories is that it contains both nonlocal parameter and material length scale parameter. The elastic substrate is modeled as Pasternak foundation model. According to the NSGT and the sinusoidal two-variable shear deformation plate theory, the governing equations of motion are derived involving the material parameters and hygrothermo-electromagnetic effects. The present solutions are checked through comparisons with those presented in the literature. Numerical results show the impacts of the nonlocal and gradient parameters, side-to-thickness ratio, hygrothermo-electromagnetic loads and substrate stiffness on the thermal buckling, frequencies and wave propagation in the smart nanoplates.