diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..34f4cc133ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# An emtpy setup.cfg file for backward compatibility with pip<21.3.
+# See https://github.com/GenericMappingTools/pygmt/issues/2100 for the issue report.