Light is currently a senior fellow and director of international climate policy at the Center for American Progress (CAP), where he leads a team working primarily on climate finance, short-lived climate pollutants, and bilateral energy and climate agreements between the U.S., India, and China. He is also co-chair of the U.S. Climate Leadership Group, a project to better coordinate the work of all international climate specialists in environment, security and development NGOs.

At the same time, Light is a professor of philosophy and public policy at George Mason University, and Director of the Center for Global Ethics. Past academic positions have included the University of Washington, NYU, and the State University of New York, Binghamton, NY. Light is the author or co-author of sixteen books, over 80 scholarly articles and book chapters, as well as numerous reports and editorials, primarily on terrestrial restoration ecology, urban ecology, and the social dimensions of new and emerging technologies.

Light received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside, and completed his post-doctoral research work in environmental risk assessment at the University of Alberta, Edmonton.