Last year was the warmest on record, and temperatures are on track to rise 3.6 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, a course that would cause irreversible damage to the planet and spark more floods, droughts, water shortages, extinction of species and ocean acidification.

Business As Usual

“The cost of not acting is starting to be higher than the cost of acting,” Polman said at a press conference with Gore. “We need to set clear targets. We need a price on carbon.”

Lord Stern, the former U.K. Treasury adviser who authored an influential paper setting out the costs of climate change, said this year’s decisions on the issue starting with the UN move on sustainability goals in September and culminating with the talks in Paris in December will shape the next two decades.

“These are the 20 years when we have to tackle climate change,” Stern said. “What we do in the next 20 years will be transformational. It can be the best of centuries. Or if we dither around for the next 20 years we can make it the worst.”

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