In 2021 the climate crisis became more present than ever: record-breaking storms from Barbados to Indonesia; drought in 39% of the USA; deadly jellyfish migrating into the warming Mediterranean Sea.

Climate change is warping not only our weather patterns and ecosystems, but also our economies, politics and health.

Yet as the long-feared emergency dawns, there are also signs of a belated awakening to the threat. Technological breakthroughs have made it possible to consider the end of fossil fuel reliance. Relentless activism has helped to make climate change impossible for politicians and businesses to ignore.

Some of the biggest developments in a crunch year for the planet:

An Arctic heat wave. Siberia is usually more associated with merciless cold than searing heat. Yet this June temperatures rocketed to a searing 48 degrees. Throughout the summer, forest fires raged. Heat records were broken in many places this year, with July globally the hottest month ever recorded. But the blazing heat in the Arctic Circle was especially alarming.

Deadly floods in Europe. Countries like Germany and Belgium have rarely been on the front line of the climate crisis. This July, however, rivers in several Western European countries burst their banks to submerge whole regions and claim at least 190 lives. These events would have been highly unlikely without global warming.

"Code red" for humanity. Such extremes are scary enough in themselves, but the outlook for the future is bleaker by far. In August, a major report showed that the consequences of global warming would be even more disastrous than previously feared, making huge swathes of the planet virtually uninhabitable.

Green politics goes mainstream. In such dire circumstances, politicians can no longer ignore the call to action. In January, US President Joe Biden took power with ambitious green policies at the heart of his agenda. In September, the German Green PartyA centre-left party largely focused on environmental politics. It formed part of a coalition government with the Social Democrats between 1998 and 2005. won 15% of the national vote.

A climate summit offers glimmers of hope. When world leaders met this month for Cop26Cop stands for  Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the outcome was a frustrating compromise. Yet commitments made in Glasgow keep the possibility of avoiding all-out catastrophe alive. "We can credibly say," said Cop president Alok Sharma, "that we kept the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels in reach".

The electric car boom. Electric vehicles have been around for some time, but at prohibitively expensive cost. This year, one in 12 cars sold in Europe ran on batteries alone, and governments began to solve infrastructure shortages such as a lack of charging points.

Britain's greenest day. On Easter Monday, wind and solar power generated 60% of all energy used in the UK. The proportion from fossil fuels was just over 20%. Wind and solar used to be considered efficient; now green energy is by far the cheapest variety, and getting more effective each year. A green future is finally in sight.

Some predict that we will look back on 2021 as a year of criminal negligence in an era of complacency. These small signs of progress are wildly inadequate, they say: the planet is burning while we fiddle. Future generations will be rightfully appalled.

But others are more hopeful: we are still on grim path, they say, but the momentum has unmistakeably shifted. This year will come to be seen as the turning of the tide, they predict, the beginning of the end for fossil fuels and the first hesitating step on the road to a sustainable civilisation.

Health - Climate change is thought to cause five million deaths per year, with causes including heat, drought and extreme weather. Research also suggests it has had major impacts on mental health.

Forest fires - In Siberia, 1.5 million hectares of forest burned. Unusually destructive wildfires were also rampant in many other places, including Greece, Oregon and Brazil.

Major report - The report was from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It was the most wide-ranging and authoritative report in recent years.

Green Party - Green parties (which prioritise environmental concerns) are now part of a governing coalition in several European countries, including Belgium, Ireland, Switzerland and Sweden.

Cop26 - The annual Cop events gather the international community under a UN framework for tackling environmental issues. This year's was particularly important because countries had to commit to policies to keep warming below 1.5C, as agreed in Paris in 2015.