The United Nations last month announced that we have 12 years left for an emergency worldwide mobilization — unprecedented in human history — to halt the use of fossil fuels and eliminate greenhouse gas emissions.

Failure to take such dramatic action increases the likelihood that human civilization as we know it will cease to exist. Floods, sea-level rise, wildfires, heat waves and droughts will make parts of the planet uninhabitable. Climate refugees will likely be in the hundreds of millions. Support systems involving energy, food and water will break down, leading to wars over such resources. Hundreds of millions, if not billions, could die.

There is no indication that Gov. Andrew Cuomo or state lawmakers take this threat seriously or that they are prepared to launch the needed effort. Climate change was ignored by Cuomo and most lawmakers in the recent election. It also continues to be largely ignored by the media.

New York's progress on meeting climate goals has been pitifully small. Sixteen years and three governors after George Pataki set some modest goals for renewable energy, New York draws only 4 percent of the state's electricity from solar and wind.

We need New York to provide national leadership by enacting the strongest climate change agenda possible. That is the Off Fossil Fuels act, which would immediately halt all new fossil fuel infrastructure, transition to 100 percent clean, renewable energy by 2030 (i.e., net-zero greenhouse gas emissions), and require all new buildings to be at least net- zero carbon emissions. California just enacted the latter requirement while also requiring new buildings to be solar-powered.

The act not only requires the state to adopt an enforceable climate action plan with clear timelines and benchmarks, but requires counties and municipalities with more than 50,000 people to do so as well.

The state also needs to take the simple but symbolic step of divesting its pension fund of billions in fossil fuel investments, as New York City recently agreed to do. A state carbon tax on polluters would help accelerate and pay for the transition to renewables.

The Democrats and their closely aligned community organizations are poised to enact the Climate and Community Protection Act, a version of which has passed the Assembly since 2009. It builds upon an executive order issued by Gov. David Paterson. At least through 2030, the CACP largely seeks to put into law the governor's existing climate goals rather than improve them.

It continues the traditional strategy of taking incremental steps that are seen as politically practical, rather than doing what is necessary to save life on the planet. It does not even call for the state to halt the development of fossil fuel infrastructure.

We witnessed a similar scenario eight years ago, when the Green Party picked up the call by grass-roots activists to ban fracking of natural gas. The larger green groups dismissed a ban as imprudent, instead calling for a moratorium to study the issue. Fortunately, the grass-roots had the numbers and the passion and eventually prevailed, with the big groups changing their position.

One of the great things about taking climate action is that it has major positive impacts on jobs, health and electric bills — in addition to saving life on the planet. The only downside is for the fossil fuel companies — unless they move into renewable energy, energy efficiency, or energy storage, as their own scientists urged them to do 30 years ago.

The New York Times Magazine recently devoted its entire Sunday edition to the proposition that life on the planet is doomed since we lack the political leadership to take action to stand up to the fossil fuel companies. The Times may say "game over"; we say "game on." We need average New Yorkers to step up and create that political will.

Pope Francis was correct in saying in his climate treatise that we could not solve climate change unless we also solved injustice, since it is the same mentality that allows the wealthy to exploit the poor that drives humanity to exploit the planet. We need to change our political and economic system, and our values, to focus on meeting the needs of all, not just enriching the wealthy.

We need to reject capitalism and adopt eco-socialism. Continuing to allow the private sector and their focus on maximizing profits to determine our energy future will never solve the climate crisis.

For the past eight years we have campaigned for a Green New Deal to transform our energy systems while providing millions of new living-wage jobs and eliminating the air pollution that kills millions worldwide.

The Green New Deal has received increased attention in the past year. It made national headlines recently when hundreds of climate activists with the Sunrise Movement held a sit-in in Rep. Nancy Pelosi's office. Draft legislation by incoming Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-Queens, calls for a 10-year transition to 100 percent clean power, with an accompanying commitment to environmental and economic justice and public ownership and democratic control of our energy system.

We must push Cuomo to make New York a true climate leader.

Mark Dunlea is the former Green Party candidate for state comptroller and the chair of the Green Education and Legal Fund.