Earlier this month, the United States government released a 1,695-page draft report on the current state of climate change and America's role in combating it. According to the National Climate Assessment, water supplies and public health are both vulnerable to worsening and more frequent natural disasters caused by a warming planet.

"The things Americans value most are at risk," the assessment reads. "Many of the harmful impacts that people across the country are already experiencing will worsen as warming increases, and new risks will emerge."

The official report will be released in 2023 after the public has a chance to comment on and review the information. The document was created by the combined efforts of 13 federal agencies and hundreds of climate scientists.

The government is required to release a climate report every four years, and the last report was released in 2018. During his time in office, former President Donald Trump attempted to stop work on the report, pushing the release date into 2023.

The report lays out how much climate change has progressed so far. Land warms more quickly than the ocean, and areas closer to the poles are warming faster than areas near the equator, with the Arctic being the most affected. Over the past half a century, temperatures in the U.S. have risen by 2.5 degrees, 68% faster than the global average.

Due to the rising temperatures, the number of extreme weather events has increased from an average of eight annually to nearly 18 such events every year over the past five years, with each disaster causing roughly $1 billion in damage. That increase in natural disasters has contributed to drops in property value and disruptions of critical infrastructure.

In the coming years, the report warns that natural disasters like wildfires and flooding coastlines could lead to millions of Americans being displaced. Already, these events have had serious consequences for businesses in the affected areas, with crop yields and fishery operations seeing significant disruptions.

"The old narrative that climate change is something that's happening to polar bears or it's going to happen to your grandchildren - that was never true, but it is now obviously not true," said Kate Marvel, a climate scientist with NASA and one of the report's authors. "There's bad stuff happening now where we can very confidently say, 'This wouldn't have happened without climate change.'"

In particular, the report says that these negative effects have primarily impacted communities with relatively low carbon footprints, rather than the areas that produce the most pollution.

"The effects of climate change are felt most strongly by communities that are already overburdened, including Indigenous peoples, people of color, and low-income communities," the report reads. "These frontline communities experience harmful climate impacts first and worst, yet are often the least responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change."

Along with its warnings, the report also called on the U.S. to do more to combat climate change. While the assessment acknowledges that the U.S. did reduce its carbon emissions by 12% between 2007 and 2019, it states that the country will need to cut its emissions by 6% every year in order to reach President Joe Biden's goal of establishing a net-zero economy by 2050.

"The threats to the people and places we love, our livelihoods, and pastimes can be reduced now," the authors wrote, "through proactive, proven efforts to substantially cut emissions and adapt to unavoidable changes in ways that address inequities across the nation."

Specifically, the climate assessment authors called on the country to properly fund existing efforts to combat climate change while increasing its investment in public transit, low-carbon technology, and electric vehicles.

"The worst consequences of climate change can still be avoided or limited by large scale actions that rapidly decarbonize the economy and prepare communities for impacts," the assessment reads. "Longer-term planning and investment in transformative mitigation and adaptation offers the opportunity to create a healthier, more just, and more resilient nation."