The invention of the solar panel epitomizes the power of human ingenuity. With a recent contract for solar power in Chile awarded for less than $0.03 per kilowatt hour, Bloomberg New Energy Finance chair Michael Liebriech says , “Solar power delivers cheapest unsubsidized electricity ever, anywhere, by any technology.” By harnessing the strongest energy producer known to the world at an affordable price, low-carbon energy technology represents a new paradigm for electricity consumption.

But as cheap as solar has gotten, the global challenge of climate change cannot be solved by solar alone. A full solution requires multiple industries waking up to the reality that inventions like the solar panel are heralding a new era of market potential and employment opportunity.

Any aspiring entrepreneur who questions the possibility for large-scale and sweeping innovations to tackle a global challenge has history to look to as a proof. In the same way that our national domestic mobilization helped secure victory in World War II, we must marshal our resources to confront global climate change today.

By pursuing innovation, generating jobs, and doing our part, industry can help lead a climate mobilization effort with the same spirit and fervor that lifted the United States out of the Great Depression and defeated one of the most dangerous fascist regimes in history. A cover article in the New Republic recently made the case for viewing climate change as a global enemy–and the analogy delivers important parallels for the role of business, industry, and innovation.

The idea that necessity is the mother of invention, and America’s uncompromising resolve for victory in World War II generated inventions that continue to enhance our lives today. The world’s first computer, for example, arose out of America’s wartime inventiveness. The same spirit is apparent in new applications to reduce greenhouse gas emissions today. Climate change poses a massive threat to our civilization. It’s also the greatest economic opportunity of our time.

More than 1 million solar customers have been served across the U.S. The Solar Energy Industries Association predicts this figure will grow to 2 million within just two years. The exponential growth of solar energy is a testament to private sector innovations like the pioneering “no money down” concept, which brought solar technology to scale in the early 2000s.