Andrew Light, a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute, worked on the chapter of the report that focuses on mitigation and highlights examples of effective action being taken to lower climate risks.
"The mitigation measures are there, they're achievable, they could actually produce impacts — that's clearly in the report," he told Business Insider. "What's also in the report is that there are lots and lots and lots of very successful pilot programs on adaptation that have come out. The issue now is whether we get the leadership we need to get the rest of the country to follow those examples."
Beyond government action, there are market forces at work now as well, Light said.
"There is abundant evidence that this is not a negative-cost proposition, that you can make tons of money, that there is a growing and increasing market for getting on the right side of pricing the pollution and then selling the alternatives to high-carbon energy sources," he said.