What would it be like to live without fossil fuels? What would that planet look like? What would our neighborhoods sound and smell like? Imagine this world with former United Nations climate chief Christiana Figueres and the BBC Ideas animation above.

The journey to our fossil fuel free future is the most exciting, the most innovative, the most necessary, the most inclusive and far-reaching global transformation we have ever seen.

What are fossil fuels? From Britannica:

Fossil fuels include coal, petroleum, natural gas, oil shales, bitumens, tar sands, and heavy oils. All contain carbon and were formed as a result of geologic processes acting on the remains of organic matter produced by photosynthesis, a process that began in the Archean Eon (4.0 billion to 2.5 billion years ago). Most carbonaceous material occurring before the Devonian Period (419.2 million to 358.9 million years ago) was derived from algae and bacteria, whereas most carbonaceous material occurring during and after that interval was derived from plants…

One of the main by-products of fossil fuel combustion is carbon dioxide (CO2). The ever-increasing use of fossil fuels in industry, transportation, and construction has added large amounts of CO2 to Earth’s atmosphere… CO2 behaves as a greenhouse gas—that is, it absorbs infrared radiation (net heat energy) emitted from Earth’s surface and reradiates it back to the surface. Thus, the substantial CO2 increase in the atmosphere is a major contributing factor to human-induced global warming…

To counter worries over rising greenhouse gas concentrations and to diversify their energy mix, many countries have sought to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels by developing sources of renewable energy (such as wind, solar, hydroelectric, tidal, geothermal, and biofuels) while at the same time increasing the mechanical efficiency of engines and other technologies that rely on fossil fuels.

Watch more videos about solar power, wind power, innovation, and sustainability on this site, including Climbing Wind Turbines for a Living, how solar panels work, and using seawater and sunlight to grow sustainable food in the desert.