The Kolbe reaction, described by Faraday in 1834 and established by Kolbe in 1849, is one of the oldest electrochemical reactions and possibly the first C-C bond forming reaction in organic synthesis (Figure ). Despite the appeal of making Csp 3 -Csp 3 bonds from simple carboxylic acids using only electrons as the reagent, its use in mainstream organic synthesis is exceedingly rare. In its canonical form, a high current density is required in order to initiate oxidative radical generation, followed by immediate dimerization on a Pt electrode surface. Such harsh oxidative conditions undermine its synthetic utility with even dormant terminal unactivated olefins such as 1 or benzylic systems such as 2 and 3 being incompatible (Figure , top). These striking limitations are seldom advertised, although numerous reviews on this classic reaction make it clear that minimally functionalized hydrocarbons are the best substrates and barely any practical industrial applications exist. Interest in this potentially powerful transformation has re-emerged with studies from the Lam group applying it to the synthesis of functionalized pyrrolidinones, and the Sevov group studying self-assembled monolayers to lower the harshly oxidative conditions. A reductive, electrocatalytic variant of the Kolbe reaction has also appeared using in situ generated redox active esters to enable controlled heterocoupling of different carboxylic acids. One of the most industrially promising applications of the Kolbe reaction involves the upconversion of biomassderived chemicals to reduce reliance on petroleum-based products. Thus far, reactions employed in this space are mostly simple functional group manipulations such as hydrogenation, condensation and elimination with the exception of olefin cross metathesis for C-C bond formation. In this context, the Kolbe reaction, which utilizes only electrons as reagent, has long been recognized as a potentially disruptive transformation since it forges saturated C-C bonds directly from carboxylic acids which are ubiquitous in biomass-derived chemicals. No alternative reaction currently exists to form saturated C-C bond with this level of simplicity and sustainability. This exciting prospect, which has generated intense study in the area of sustainable synthesis, still remains an unanswered challenge for the field with the issues of limited substrate scope and reliance on precious metal-based electrodes presenting roadblocks for adoption.