A new report co-published by the Center for American Progress warns that global warming is quickly approaching the point of no return, after which "widespread agricultural failure, water shortages and major droughts, increased disease, sea-level rise and the death of forests" will become irreversible. The findings were a product of a taskforce co-chaired by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Stephen Byers, a close confidant of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who called on world leaders "to recognize that climate change is the single most important long-term issue that the planet faces." The task force urges G-8 countries "to agree to generate a quarter of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025 and shift agricultural subsidies from food crops to biofuels."