Chemical plants create many of the materials found in everyday items, from the shoes you wear to the car you drive to the cell phone in your pocket. But the massive carbon footprint from chemical manufacturing is leading to climate breakdown. Sustainable engineering researcher Miguel A. Modestino presents his team’s pioneering work on electrochemical engineering — the design and implementation of new chemical reactions that source their energy directly from electricity, as opposed to fossil fuels — and explains how it could reduce the world’s dependence on oil and gas, protect its natural treasures and keep the economy humming.