What You Need To Know About The Paris Climate Summit

On Nov. 30, more than 100 world leaders will gather in Paris in what many consider one of the last remaining attempts to squelch the growing scourge of climate change. They'll be joined by many of the planet's leading scientists, who for decades have urged countries to scale back the emission of greenhouse gases to stave off a slew of unprecedented consequences. The meeting -- the 21st Conference of the Parties, or COP21 -- will feature talks from the leaders of the world's worst polluting countries, namely United States President Barack Obama, Russia's Vladimir Putin, China's Xi Jinping and India's Narendra Modi. Environmentalists hope officials will come away from the summit with a sweeping plan to curb emissions and increase investment in renewable energy without any negative economic impacts, because (good news!) climate action is a sound investment.