of an economic risk since 1 trillion in national wealth is in coastal real estate rising sea levels higher storm surges and increases in flooding during high tide will threaten those properties and lead to more costs to preserve infrastructure on the coast as well as potentially displace families that live there local residents make their way across a washed out road after categor show more jabin botsfordthe washington post via getty images the report also references the possible impact of climate change on tourism from reduced snowpack which affects areas in the western part of the country and the northeast where tourist activities rely on natural snow and ice in the northeast especially the report says those activities may not be economically viable by the end of the century unless greenhouse gas emissions are significantly reduced outdoor recreation could also be impacted in areas where smoke from worsening wildfires cause poor air quality will the report change anything the report intentionally does not recommend specific policies but notes many observations for lawmakers to consider and highlights some examples of policies intended to limit the problems caused by climate change most significantly the report says that even though natural gas and renewable energy have replaced fossil fuels in many areas more immediate and substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are needed to avoid the most severe longterm consequences the trump administration and republican leadership in congress have not signaled plans to take broad action on climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions but highranking democrats on committees that deal with federal environmental policy have said they plan intensive oversight of the trump administrations decisions to roll back policies intended to combat climate change when the new legislative session starts in january democrats will likely call for administration officials to defend the presidents call to reduce regulations roll back policies proposed by the obama administration to aggressively combat climate change and allow more energy production on federal land congress is also expected to take up a spending bill that would allocate billions of dollars for infrastructure projects the report says that aging infrastructure around the country is stressed extreme weather events and overall is not prepared for a changing climate national and local lawmakers could consider the findings of the report when deciding how much to spend on projects like repairing roads and bridges or updating water systems