diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
index d7502e4a61d9e..b0c9c431b1734 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/main.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/main.yml
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Set up go
         uses: actions/setup-go@v2
         with:
-          go-version: 1.15.8
+          go-version: 1.16
 
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
         with:
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Set up go
       uses: actions/setup-go@v2
       with:
-        go-version: 1.15.8
+        go-version: 1.16
 
     - uses: actions/checkout@v2
       with:
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Set up go
       uses: actions/setup-go@v2
       with:
-        go-version: 1.15.8
+        go-version: 1.16
 
     - uses: actions/checkout@v2
       with:
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Set up go
         uses: actions/setup-go@v2
         with:
-          go-version: 1.15.8
+          go-version: 1.16
 
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
         with:
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 0a92b69db4474..938841b350cf6 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -155,8 +155,8 @@ kops-gobindata: ${BINDATA_TARGETS}
 
 .PHONY: update-bindata
 update-bindata:
-	GO111MODULE=on go run github.com/go-bindata/go-bindata/v3/go-bindata -o ${BINDATA_TARGETS} -pkg models -nometadata -nocompress -ignore="\\.DS_Store" -ignore="bindata\\.go" -ignore="vfs\\.go" -prefix upup/models upup/models/cloudup/...
-	cd "${KOPS_ROOT}/hack" && GO111MODULE=on go build -o "${KOPS_ROOT}/_output/bin/goimports" golang.org/x/tools/cmd/goimports
+	go run github.com/go-bindata/go-bindata/v3/go-bindata -o ${BINDATA_TARGETS} -pkg models -nometadata -nocompress -ignore="\\.DS_Store" -ignore="bindata\\.go" -ignore="vfs\\.go" -prefix upup/models upup/models/cloudup/...
+	cd "${KOPS_ROOT}/hack" && go build -o "${KOPS_ROOT}/_output/bin/goimports" golang.org/x/tools/cmd/goimports
 	"${KOPS_ROOT}/_output/bin/goimports" -w -v ${BINDATA_TARGETS}
 	gofmt -w -s ${BINDATA_TARGETS}
 
@@ -382,8 +382,8 @@ gomod-prereqs:
 
 .PHONY: gomod
 gomod: gomod-prereqs
-	GO111MODULE=on go mod tidy
-	GO111MODULE=on go mod vendor
+	go mod tidy
+	go mod vendor
 	# Switch weavemesh to use peer_name_hash - bazel rule-go doesn't support build tags yet
 	rm vendor/github.com/weaveworks/mesh/peer_name_mac.go
 	sed -i -e 's/peer_name_hash/!peer_name_mac/g' vendor/github.com/weaveworks/mesh/peer_name_hash.go
@@ -391,8 +391,8 @@ gomod: gomod-prereqs
 	find vendor/ -name "BUILD" -delete
 	find vendor/ -name "BUILD.bazel" -delete
 	make gazelle
-	cd tests/e2e; GO111MODULE=on go mod tidy
-	cd hack; GO111MODULE=on go mod tidy
+	cd tests/e2e; go mod tidy
+	cd hack; go mod tidy
 
 
 .PHONY: gofmt
@@ -955,7 +955,7 @@ dev-upload: dev-upload-linux-amd64 dev-upload-linux-arm64
 
 .PHONY: crds
 crds:
-	cd "${KOPS_ROOT}/hack" && GO111MODULE=on go build -o "${KOPS_ROOT}/_output/bin/controller-gen" sigs.k8s.io/controller-tools/cmd/controller-gen
+	cd "${KOPS_ROOT}/hack" && go build -o "${KOPS_ROOT}/_output/bin/controller-gen" sigs.k8s.io/controller-tools/cmd/controller-gen
 	"${KOPS_ROOT}/_output/bin/controller-gen" crd paths=k8s.io/kops/pkg/apis/kops/v1alpha2 output:dir=k8s/crds/ crd:crdVersions=v1
 
 #------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/WORKSPACE b/WORKSPACE
index 5e03a927a44bd..5ca697acdf3c0 100644
--- a/WORKSPACE
+++ b/WORKSPACE
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ load("@io_bazel_rules_go//go:deps.bzl", "go_register_toolchains", "go_rules_depe
 go_rules_dependencies()
 
 go_register_toolchains(
-    go_version = "1.15.8",
+    go_version = "1.16",
 )
 
 load("@bazel_gazelle//:deps.bzl", "gazelle_dependencies", "go_repository")
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 5d80e790c4ce9..4410a2c7d1420 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 module k8s.io/kops
 
-go 1.14
+go 1.16
 
 // Version kubernetes-1.20.0-beta.2 => tag v0.20.0
 
diff --git a/hack/go.mod b/hack/go.mod
index 032374c666cef..ea82c0e829c08 100644
--- a/hack/go.mod
+++ b/hack/go.mod
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 module k8s.io/kops/hack
 
-go 1.15
+go 1.16
 
 require (
 	github.com/bazelbuild/bazel-gazelle v0.22.3
diff --git a/tests/e2e/e2e.mk b/tests/e2e/e2e.mk
index e301a72dd55fc..ac450e12bb90e 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/e2e.mk
+++ b/tests/e2e/e2e.mk
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ GOARCH ?= $(shell go env GOARCH)
 .PHONY: test-e2e-install
 test-e2e-install:
 	cd $(KOPS_ROOT)/tests/e2e && \
-		export GO111MODULE=on && \
 		go install sigs.k8s.io/kubetest2 && \
 		go install ./kubetest2-tester-kops && \
 		go install ./kubetest2-kops
diff --git a/tests/e2e/go.mod b/tests/e2e/go.mod
index d54cec279a383..b5412d5c76c79 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/go.mod
+++ b/tests/e2e/go.mod
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 module k8s.io/kops/tests/e2e
 
-go 1.15
+go 1.16
 
 require (
 	github.com/blang/semver v3.5.1+incompatible