Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, warned this year that climate change is "the greatest economic challenge of the 21st century ... Unless we take action on climate change future generations will be roasted, toasted, fried and grilled."
Her warning seems to have been dismissed as hyperbole, judging by the lack of reaction by other political leaders. But she may be more correct than she knew.
In May, Planet Earth reached a grim milestone — carbon dioxide emissions reached more than 400 parts per million average for a day, which is 50 ppm more than what scientists regard as the safe level for keeping the Earth's temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-Industrial levels. Now some scientists think we will have to fight hard to keep the temperature rise to less than 4 degrees, and some are already warning of a rise of 7 to 9 degrees.