Next week in New York City, the United Nations will host the 2014 Climate Change Summit, an opportunity for political, industrial, and scientific leaders alike to come together to brainstorm a strategy to combat global climate change.

The event aims to underscore the urgency of dealing with climate change, and highlights the notion that denial and inaction will ultimately lead to the destruction of many facets of the world as it is known.

“Time is not on our side. With every year that passes, greenhouse gas concentrations reach higher and higher levels,” said Michel Jarraud, World Meteorology Organization Secretary-General, in a statement. “The more we wait, the more difficult, the more expensive, the more challenging it will be to adapt to climate change caused by human activities.”

Although hosted by the geopolitical magnate, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon hopes to utilize the conversation to draw in stakeholders beyond international politicians and diplomats.

“The effects of climate change are already widespread and costly,” said Ki-Moon in a short video. “…to limit global temperature rise, build resilience and steer the world to a meaningful climate agreement in Paris in 2015. But business too has a crucial role to play…business too has a crucial role to play.”

International representation of both the public and private sectors will be on hand to listen to reports and studies from reputable scientists that hail from Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkino Faso, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Japan, the Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania, the United States and Zambia.

“If we don’t act on climate change, it means we are living at the expense of what we leave to our children,” said Jarraud. “It’s like borrowing money and leaving a huge debt to our children. This is exactly what we are doing with climate change.”

The summit will focus on creating sustainable, actionable policies that both businesses and scientists can agree will help mitigate the crisis. Hopefully, after preliminary solutions are created this week, the next year will be spent implementing them and fine-tuning the policies, before the Summit ultimately reconvenes in Paris next year to draft a comprehensive, policy-driven solution to climate change that is agreeable all involved stakeholders: businessmen, political officials, scientists, and civilians alike.

Although the reports are bleak, according to Jarraud, “Action is still possible. It will require bold decisions, courageous decisions.”