In 1997, delegates from 194 member countries of the United Nations signed the Kyoto protocol, a pledge to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 2012. Essentially, each ratifying country pledged to lower their emissions to pre-1990 levels. The protocol expires Jan. 1, 2013, and U.N. delegates are currently convening at the U.N. Climate Change conference in Doha, Qatar, to attempt to rethink a new way forward for global climate change law and policy.

Now is a pivotal time for government action. This summer, for the first time in measured history, the number of parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surpassed 400ppm — scientists say the highest safe level is below 350ppm. This has had innumerable consequences on global well-being.

The U.N. Environment Program said in a report last week that the world is unlikely to meet the U.N.’s official goal of keeping global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Instead, the World Bank reports, the world is headed toward a rise of more than 3 degrees Celsius, contributing to widespread crop failures, significant sea rise and countless climate-related deaths and refugees, especially in the developing world. One report published in Environmental Research Letters said sea levels are rising 60 percent faster than the United Nations originally predicted.

While developing countries are calling for a concrete and binding international treaty on greenhouse gas emissions, the world’s worst polluters are making a different kind of pledge. Russia, Canada and Japan have all indicated they will not renew any similar international commitment to avoid climate change while the United States never ratified the original agreement in the first place and has no intention of doing so in the future.

These countries avoid commitment because reducing greenhouse emissions means finding energy alternatives, an option considered costly in the currently deflated global economy. But this argument falls apart as rising temperatures increasingly equate to rising costs of agricultural production and food, rising sea levels and rising rates of powerful storms causing massive infrastructural damage.

Governments of the world, but particularly those governments of heavily polluting countries, have an obligation to implement real, long-term action to prevent larger climate-related catastrophes.

As the climate conference wraps up in Doha on Friday, the resulting action — or inaction — of the conference has massive implications on the future welfare of the world and its citizens. A binding international treaty for all governments, and especially the United States, Canada, Russia and Japan, is pivotal for the long-term health and security of the global community. We shall see whether this is more valuable than immediate economic gain.

A version of this article appeared in the Wednesday, Dec. 5 print edition. Alistair Blacklock is a contributing columnist. Email him at [email protected].