Combatting the climate crisis requires society to rapidly transform all the systems that propel our economy, including power generation, buildings, industry, transport, land use and more. But by how much? And how can decision-makers make it happen? Developed by partners contributing to the Systems Change Lab, the "State of Climate Action 2021" report identifies 40 indicators across key sectors that must transform to address the climate crisis and assesses how current trends stack up against targets for 2030 and 2050 to limit warming to 1.5 degrees C. The analysis will highlight both encouraging bright spots that are witnessing exponential change as well as sectors that are well off track and demand urgent attention.

1. Systems Transformations
Required to Limit Global
Warming to 1.5°C
Photo Source: Forest Service, USDA/Flickr
STATE OF
CLIMATE
ACTION 2021
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2. Agenda and Speakers
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Moderator Andrew Steer, Bezos Earth Fund
Findings Nigel Topping, UN High-Level Climate Champion
Niklas Höhne, NewClimate Institute
Sophie Boehm, World Resources Institute
Surabi Menon, ClimateWorks Foundation
Discussion Bill Hare, Climate Analytics
Ani Dasgupta, World Resources Institute
Naoko Ishii, University of Tokyo
Download the report: wri.org/research/state-climate-action-2021
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3. Photo Source: Annie Spratt/Unsplash
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A MAKE OR
BREAK DECADE

4. THE HARD
TRUTH
Photo Source: SC National Guard/Flickr
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5. TRANSFORMATIONAL
CHANGE NOW NEEDED
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6. THE SYSTEMS CHANGE
LAB
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7. To hold global warming to 1.5°C, we need
to:
• Translate systemwide transformations
into concrete, actionable targets
toward which we can measure
progress.
• Understand how much progress we’re
making across key sectors.
• Identify what levers of change to pull
to spur durable, transformational
change.
Why did we write
this report?
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8. 8
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9. EXPONENTIAL
CHANGE
Photo Source: Andreas Mitsuo Komoriya/Flickr
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10. Criteria
Rapid, Nonlinear Change is
Possible
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Source: Ritchie and Roser (2017).

11. 11
S-Curves for Clean Technology
Adoption
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Source: Boehm et al. (2021)’s judgement based on Victor et al. (2019 and ETC (2020).

12. IMAGE AREA
Wind and
Solar
Power
BRIGHT
SPOTS:
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Source: Jaeger (2021)

13. 13
Enablers of System Change
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Source: Adapted from Levin et al. (2020)
Innovations in technology,
practices, and approaches

14. POWER
GENERATION
Photo Source: Wind Denmark/Flickr
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15. 15
Summary of Progress
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Source: Boehm et al. (2021)

16. 16
Rapidly Phase Out Unabated
Coal
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Source: Boehm et al. (2021)

17. New coal
capacity
is still
outpacing
retirements.
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Source: Global Energy Monitor (2021)
Around 500 GW of new
coal is currently in
development globally.

18. BUILDINGS
Photo Source: Andreas Komodromos/Flickr
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19. 19
Summary of Progress
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Source: Boehm et al. (2021)

20. Increase Annual Retrofitting
Rate
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Source: Boehm et al. (2021)

21. INDUSTRY
Photo Source: Sask Power/Flickr
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22. 22
Summary of Progress
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Source: Boehm et al. (2021)

23. Reduce the Carbon Intensity of
Steel Production
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Source: Boehm et al. (2021)

24. The number of announced
low- and zero-carbon steel
projects increased rapidly,
from just 1 in 2016 to 45 as of
August 2021.
But interest
in zero-
carbon steel
is growing.
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Source: Boehm et al. (2021)’s analysis of data from Leadit (2021)
Note: Total includes full-scale, demonstration, and pilot
projects.

25. TRANSPORT
Photo Source: WRI Brasil/Flickr
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26. 26
Summary of Progress
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27. Increase Adoption of Electric
Buses
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Source: Boehm et al. (2021)

28. Upfront costs of electric buses
are projected to decline.
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28
Source: BloombergNEF (2018)

29. TECH
CARBON
REMOVAL
Photo Source: ClimateWorks
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30. 30
Summary of Progress
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Source: Boehm et al. (2021)

31. Investments in direct air
capture are increasing.
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Sources: Carbon180 (2021) and BPC (2021)

32. LAND USE
Photo Source: USAID Biodiversity & Forestry/Flickr
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33. 33
Summary of Progress
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Source: Boehm et al. (2021)

34. 34
Dramatically Slow Deforestation
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Source: Boehm et al. (2021)

35. 96% of deforestation is in the
tropics, where most is driven by
agricultural conversion.
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Source: WRI (2021a)

36. AGRICULTURE
Photo Source: CIAT/Flickr
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37. 37
Summary of Progress
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Source: Boehm et al. (2021)

38. Yields remain well-below world
averages in sub-Saharan Africa,
where intensifying climate
impacts also threaten to depress
productivity.
Global figures
mask wide
variations
among
regions.
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38
Source: FAOSTAT (2021)

39. FINANCE
Photo Source: UNclimatechange/Flickr
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40. 40
Summary of Progress
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Source: Boehm et al. (2021)

41. Scale Up Total Climate Finance
Flows
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Source: Boehm et al. (2021)

42. Annual increases in public climate
finance must increase 5 times faster,
with developed countries
establishing an ambitious goal to
ensure sufficient funds for
developing countries.
Improving the
quality and
quantity of
climate finance
is critical.
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42
Source: Adapted from OCED (2021)

43. JUST
TRANSITION
Photo Source: Chris Yakimov/Flickr
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44. Early Examples of Initiatives for
a Just Transition
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Source: WRI (2021b)

45. THANK YOU!
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This report was made possible by the generous financial
contributions and thought leadership from:
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46. Read the Report:
wri.org/research/state-climate-action-2021
Watch the Recording:
wri.org/events/2021/10/state-climate-
action-2021
Learn More About
the Systems Change Lab:
wri.org/initiatives/systems-change-lab
Learn More Contact Us
UN High-Level Climate Champions:
Frances Way, francesway@climatechampions.team
ClimateWorks Foundation:
Dan Plechaty, dan.plechaty@climateworks.org
Climate Action Tracker:
Hanna Fekete, h.fekete@newclimate.org
Bezos Earth Fund:
Kelly Levin, kelly.levin@bezosearthfund.org
World Resources Institute:
Sophie Boehm, sophia.boehm@wri.org
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