Business review of 2021 climate

Over the past year governments all over the world told businesses to radically step up their strategies for going green and shifting away from fossil fuels.

Fossil fuel is fuel such as coal or oil that is formed from the decayed remains of plants or animals.

The Glasgow COP 26 Climate Conference in November saw the host, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, setting out why humanity had to "act now". Mr Johnson declared: "If we don't get serious about climate change today, it will be too late for our children to do so tomorrow".

The climate of a place is the general weather conditions that are typical of it.

After the two weeks of talking in Glasgow, a draft deal pledging to "phase out" use of the dirtiest fuel, coal, was rejected by the biggest coal users, China and India. But climate experts welcomed the fact that a reference to coal did stay in the final agreement, with a commitment instead to "phase down" coal use.

If something is phased out, people gradually stop using it.
If you make a commitment to do something, you promise that you will do it.