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Ancient organic compounds found as crumbly rock, odorless gas, or slick black liquid have powered modern life, but they now threaten to make the planet unlivable for many species. These energy sources, known collectively as fossil fuels, include coal, oil, and natural gas.
Origins and Extraction of Fossil Fuels
These energy sources originated hundreds of millions of years ago as living plants and animals. Following death, these organisms sank to the bottoms of swamps and oceans, decomposing underneath layers of sediment.
As this matter became buried deeper within the earth over time, increasing pressure and heat altered its chemical composition. Plants and trees converted into coal, while microscopic plankton and algae transformed into oil, or gas when subjected to even higher heat and pressure.
Today, fossil fuels exist in the earth’s crust globally, with nations like the US, Saudi Arabia, and Russia holding larger reserves than others. Coal is extracted from underground beds via mining, whereas oil and gas are accessed through drilling into reservoirs beneath land and oceans.
How Fossil Fuels Power Society
Since the early 19th Century, when the Industrial Revolution was driven by fossil fuel discoveries, usage has surged, multiplying eight times over since 1950. Currently, these fuels satisfy 80% of global energy demands for heating, electricity generation, and transportation.
Energy is produced either by burning the fuels directly in furnaces to warm buildings or inside power plants to turn water into steam for electricity. For transportation, crude oil undergoes refinement into diesel, gasoline, and kerosene to power automobile, airplane, and ship engines, while natural gas is occasionally compressed for cars and buses.
Additionally, fossil fuels remain vital for manufacturing diverse products, including steel—created using a coal-derived substance named coke—and plastic, which is manufactured by processing and refining crude oil and gas.
Climate Impact and Transition Roadmap
Fossil fuels represent the primary driver of climate change. Burning them to sustain modern lifestyles releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which traps heat and elevates global temperatures.
With 2025 officially noted as one of the warmest years on record, these emissions impact the globe by melting polar ice caps and fueling more intense and frequent extreme weather events like floods, droughts, wildfires, and storms. Scientists emphasize keeping global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius to prevent the worst consequences of climate change, a target outlined in the 2015 Paris Agreement, which currently has 194 parties even as overall emissions continue rising.
Three years following the COP28 UN climate conference in Dubai, where countries pledged to transition away from fossil fuels, Brazil has introduced a roadmap to help translate that commitment into national plans after the previous COP in Brazil failed to establish a concrete consensus.
“It is long past time to stop treating the transition away from fossil fuels as taboo or intractable,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated.
