Alternatively, they could say: "It's already too late", but then surely nobody would do anything. It's better to keep coming up with new goals, so they can say

Alternatively, they could say: "It's already too late", but then surely nobody would do anything. It's better to keep coming up with new goals, so they can say "Do something in the next X years or Y" will happen. Then at least we might be able to prevent something.