2021 in climate change

This article documents notable events, research findings, effects, and responses related to global warming and climate change during the year 2021.

List of years in climate change
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Actions and goal statements

Political, economic, cultural actions
  • A 5 January run-off election in the U.S. state of Georgia placed the Democratic party in narrow control of both houses of Congress, improving Democratic President Biden's prospects for implementing climate-related policies.[1]
  • On 15 January, France's Total SE—among Europe’s top energy companies that had accelerated plans to cut emissions and build large renewable energy businesses—became the first major global energy company to quit the American Petroleum Institute lobby group, whose largest members resisted investor pressure to diversify to renewables.[2]
  • On 20 January, on the afternoon of his inauguration, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a letter re-committing the nation to the 2015 Paris climate accord,[3] reversing Donald Trump's withdrawal that took formal effect on 4 November 2020[4] (the U.S. had been the only country in the world not signatory to the accord.[3]) The White House website was promptly changed to recite that Biden "will take swift action to tackle the climate emergency", reversing Trump's removing mention of greenhouse gas emissions on his first day in office in 2017.[5]
  • On 28 January, General Motors said that by 2035 it will end sale of all gasoline and diesel powered passenger cars and light SUVs (excluding medium and heavy duty trucks), and will sell about 30 types of electric vehicles, and planned to halt and review new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters.[6]
  • In January, newly-elected U.S. President Joe Biden promised to make the federal government's 645,000 vehicles electric.[7]
  • In late January, NRG Energy announced that it would be indefinitely shutting down the U.S.'s only remaining facility for carbon capture and storage (CCS), generally presented as a "clean coal" technology by the fossil fuel industry.[8]
  • 1–12 November: the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26, Glasgow, Scotland) had been postponed for a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.[9]

Mitigation goal statements
  • On 27 January, newly-elected U.S. President Joe Biden signed executive orders designed to put the country on a path to 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2035 and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.[7]

Consensus

Projections
  • In January, the World Economic Forum listed top 10 risks by likelihood (extreme weather as #1, climate action failure as #2, human environmental damage as #3) and by severity (climate action failure as #2, human environmental damage as #6, extreme weather as #8).[11]

Significant publications
  • Fleming, Sean (19 January 2021). "These are the world's greatest threats in 2021". WEForum.org. World Economic Forum. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021.


See also


References
  1. Eilperin, Juliet; Dennis, Brady; Mufson, Steven (7 January 2021). "How the Georgia election results just raised Biden's climate ambitions". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021.
  2. Bousso, Don (15 January 2021). "France's Total quits top U.S. oil lobby in climate split". Financial Post. Reuters. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021.
  3. Beitsch, Rebecca (20 January 2021). "Biden recommits US to Paris climate accord". The Hill. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021.
  4. Arvin, Jariel (6 November 2020). "Europe's leaders on climate change are the first to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden". Vox. Archived from the original on 29 November 2020.
  5. Marcus, Josh (21 January 2021). "White House website mentions climate change again, reversing Trump's info blackout". The Independent. Archived from the original on 3 February 2021.
  6. Mufson, Steven (28 January 2021). "General Motors to eliminate gasoline and diesel light-duty cars and SUVs by 2035". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021.
  7. Bokat-Lindell, Spencer (28 January 2021). "Can Biden Deliver on His Climate Promises?". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. 'Executive actions are far more ephemeral and easily discarded than legislation, which can set up a whipsaw effect,' The Times editorial board writes. As much as Mr. Biden does to reverse Mr. Trump’s reversals, his successor could reverse them again.
  8. Taft, Molly (2 February 2021). "The Only Carbon Capture Plant in the U.S. Just Closed". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on 3 February 2021.
  9. "Uniting the World to Tackle Climate Change". ukCOP26.org. U.N. Climate Change Conference 2021. Archived from the original on 3 January 2021.
  10. "The Peoples' Climate Vote". UNDP.org. United Nations Development Programme. 26 January 2021. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. 64% of people said that climate change was an emergency – presenting a clear and convincing call for decision-makers to step up on ambition.
    - The highest level of support was in SIDS (Small Island Developing States, 74%), followed by high-income countries (72%), middle-income countries (62%), then LDCs (Least Developed Countries, 58%).
    - Regionally, the proportion of people who said climate change is a global emergency had a high level of support everywhere - in Western Europe and North America (72%), Eastern Europe and Central Asia (65%), Arab States (64%), Latin America and Caribbean (63%), Asia and Pacific (63%), and Sub-Saharan Africa (61%).
    - Four climate policies emerged as the most popular globally:
    1. Conservation of forests and land (54% public support);
    2. Solar, wind and renewable power (53%);
    3. Climate-friendly farming techniques (52%); and
    4. Investing more in green businesses and jobs (50%).
    (Page has download link to 68-page PDF.)
  11. Fleming 2021.

Organizations

Surveys, summaries and report lists
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