washington — the climate crisis, which president joe biden has previously called an “existential threat to humanity,” received little attention during his first state of the union.

“we’ll create good jobs for millions of americans, modernizing roads, airports, ports, waterways all across america,” biden said during his remarks tuesday, “and we’ll do it all to withstand the devastating effects of climate change and promote environmental justice.”

the president’s address before a joint session of congress at the capitol included mentions of everything from the ukraine conflict to inflation to the rising costs of prescription medications. however, resolving the climate crisis and creating green-energy jobs received only two lines in the 62-minute speech.

biden again promised to “cut energy costs for families an average of $500 a year by combating climate change” by working with congress to enact investments and tax credits for clean energy manufacturers.

the president also briefly touted his accomplishments in getting the recent infrastructure deal passed, which will expand a national network of electric vehicle charging stations and access to clean drinking water.

u.s. running out of time to catch up to climate crisis

biden’s remarks came the day after the intergovernmental panel on climate change presented its sixth assessment to the united nations. in the report, scientists detailed imminent climate threats, which they said will be irreversible if countries do not start making environmental reforms.

the ipcc report said wealthy countries need to do more by being at the forefront of giving financial aid to low-income nations to adapt to climate change.

united nations secretary-general antónio guterres said in a statement unchecked carbon pollution is forcing the world’s most vulnerable people and environments to destruction.

“today’s ipcc report is an atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership,” guterres said.

also on the day the ipcc report was released the supreme court heard arguments in a historic climate case, west virginia v. epa. coal companies and several republican states, led by west virginia, argued to the justices that the epa’s powers to enact the clean power plan from 2015 should be limited.

read more on the case here.

biden has previously tried to rally the international community to take up aggressive action to cut greenhouse gas emissions. the u.s. pledged last year to cut emission levels as part of an overall 50% reduction in u.s. emissions from 2005 levels by 2030.

responses to the address

sen. ted cruz, r-texas, said in an interview that the president “laid out a speech that covered over many of the enormous challenges facing this country right now.”

cruz said biden did not take responsibility for “the policies of this administration attacking domestic energy production that have played a direct role in driving up the cost of energy.”

others however were pleased with the president’s overall sentiment.

“i thought it was more bipartisan than a lot of things lately and i think that was really important,” sen. amy klobuchar, d-minn., said. 

the environmental defense fund, a climate advocacy group, said the biden administration will continue to focus on the climate crisis even though recent events in ukraine influenced what took precedence in the president’s speech.

“i think world events sort of intervened in the last week. i would have anticipated more being said about what’s already being accomplished as well as what’s being sought ,” said toby short of the edf. 

“but at the same time … the whole government approach has done enormous work on moving the climate agenda forward,” short said.

washington – data on global temperatures and greenhouse gas emissions released this week shows the united states is not on a path toward meeting president joe biden’s ambitious climate change goals. the announcements come at the start of a year when the president’s climate agenda will face multiple challenges. 

according to russell vose, chief of climate monitoring at the national oceanic and atmospheric administration’s national center for climate information,  the u.s. is not on track to fulfill the objective laid out in the paris climate agreement.

vose said that global temperatures could surpass 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels––the threshold to which the treaty aims to limit global warming––at least once by the early 2030s and “almost certainly” by the 2040s. 

multiple global temperature reports for 2021 released on thursday concluded that while temperatures last year did not break any records, they continued a clear trend of global warming.  

separate assessments from nasa, noaa and nonprofit research organization berkeley earth found that global temperatures measured approximately 1.1 to 1.2 degrees celsius above the pre-industrial average. 

annual temperature averages aren’t the only measure of human impact on the planet’s climate: u.s. greenhouse gas emissions also rose in 2021, according to an analysis released monday by the rhodium group. emissions last year increased 6.2% compared to 2020, pushing the u.s. even further off course from biden’s targets for addressing climate change. 

the consequences of these rising greenhouse gas emissions and global temperatures can be seen in extreme weather events at the local and regional level––like the heat wave that baked the pacific northwest last summer or the dixie fire that devastated california. 

“we are seeing climate change today. this is not a future problem,” said lesley ott, research meteorologist at nasa. “we know that if we want to protect our communities in the future, we have to do something about the root cause of climate change, which scientists know is human emission of greenhouse gasses.” 

but biden faces a steep uphill climb to achieve his goal to lower emissions by 50-52% by 2030 and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. 

the build back better act, which includes $555 billion for clean energy and climate investments, remains stalled in the senate after sen. joe manchin, d-w. va., said he would not vote for the $1.7 trillion bill. the supreme court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in february in a case that could frustrate the biden administration’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants––a contributor to climate change. 

and then there are this year’s midterm elections, which are likely to shape lawmakers’ conversations on climate policy ahead of races that place democrat’s control of congress in jeopardy. 

“it definitely affects what they think is possible in congress,” said carrie jenks, executive director of the environmental and energy law program at harvard law school. 

the data released last week and similar warning reports alone are unlikely to push climate policy forward, said kevin book, managing director at clearview energy partners, llc.  

“there are times when data releases or big signal events from the scientific community can galvanize action, but they tend to be few and far between,” book said. 

book added that repeated amplification of new extremes found in data year after year can be desensitizing. 

“it starts to lose some of its impact. every new data point, rather than becoming more alarming, becomes more familiar in that context,” book said. 

biden will head to egypt for the next united nations climate summit in november, after pledging that the united states would slash carbon emissions by the end of the decade and encouraging other countries to do the same at last year’s gathering in glasgow. 

yet, urging other countries to act on climate change when the u.s. fell short of its goals to address it could be difficult. roger karapin, professor of political science at hunter college, said he thinks the credibility of the u.s. and president biden “is going to be dented.” 

“(other countries) want the u.s. to succeed.” karapin said. “they also want us to look reasonably good… so (biden) will just be kind of a dented and bruised leader at the next meeting.”

the exact amount of land currently protected varies depending on who you ask, but a 2018 report from the center for american progress estimates that only about 12% of the nation’s land and 26% of its waters are protected. the biden administration has a lot of work ahead of it if it’s going to increase these numbers, especially if they want to do so in a way that will actually benefit biodiversity, climate, and the myriad of other goals listed in the executive order.

blake alexander simmons, an ecologist with boston university, was the lead researcher on a recently released white paper that examined how the biden administration should go about delivering on his conservation commitments. the study created four maps of hypothetical protected area networks in the continental u.s. that could get the country to 30% protection, each with one of four different objectives in mind. the objectives were biodiversity preservation, climate change mitigation, connected landscape preservation, and ease of reaching the area goal by 2030.

together the maps revealed challenges for the biden administration going forward. for instance simmons noted how little land in the u.s. meets all the requirements listed by the administration: “even just with those four objectives let alone of all of the others that are in biden’s executive order it’s going to be really hard to find where we can get win, win, win, win; wins across the board. so tradeoffs are gonna come into play and that’s why it’s really important that we get clear very early on what objectives really matter.”

even the few regions that are highlighted in all four maps like northern maine, may be highlighted so often because of local ordinances mandating non-disclosure agreements for land sales, limiting the study’s data set and showing land prices as artificially low and attractive. the unfortunate challenge is that land that hosts biodiverse habitat does not necessarily hold a lot of carbon or sit upon property that can be cheaply bought and converted to conservation purposes.

for instance much of america’s unprotected biodiversity lies in the southeast where protected areas are rare and small. buying land to build new preserves could be prohibitively expensive due to the region’s high land costs, so other measures like conservation easements (agreements with landowners to manage their property for biodiversity) will be needed. it would be easy to just preserve large swaths of the west to reach the land goal but this would not deliver biodiversity or climate benefits.

jacob malcom, the director for the center of conservation innovation at defenders of wildlife, expressed hope that the biden administration was up to the task. his organization has been involved with the white house and numerous other stakeholders in the conservation community and beyond in developing the plan by which the 30% by 2030 will be reached. 

he said: “this is something that’s completely doable. we can do this and the fact that this is an all hands on deck — it’s everybody’s involved. it’s not a top down. it is the president setting a goal for the country, but it’s not a dictation of how this will be achieved. we can do this for nature, for climate, for people to be a part of these things.”

washington—president joe biden said that the united states is facing “a climate in crisis” among other challenges in his inauguration speech wednesday, marking the beginning of a presidency that promises to take unprecedented action on the global emergency.

“we face an attack on our democracy and on truth. a raging virus, growing inequity, the sting of systemic racism, a climate in crisis, america’s role in the world,” biden said. “any one of these would be enough to challenge us in profound ways. but the fact is, we face them all at once.”

many environmental activists were relieved to hear biden reinforce his commitment to addressing the climate crisis after former president donald trump consistently played down the threat of climate change over the past four years.

“what a difference a day makes,” said john noël, a senior climate campaigner with greenpeace usa. “we are at a complete 180 from the trump administration that stressed a borderline criminal approach to climate action and total deference to the fossil fuel industry.”

biden backed up his rhetoric almost immediately, signing an executive order to return the u.s. to the paris climate agreement and renew its international commitment to reduce carbon emissions in the near future as one of first actions in office. biden also signed executive orders halting the keystone xl pipeline from canada to texas and putting a temporary moratorium on oil and gas leasing activities in the arctic national wildlife refuge, both of which were intensely opposed from environmentalists.

he also asked the department of interior to review the deteriorating conditions of the grand staircase-escalante, northeast east canyons, bears ears, and seamounts marine national monuments.

natalie mebane, associate director of united states policy at 350 action, an environmental advocacy political action committee, said she was very pleased with biden’s decisions to rejoin the paris climate agreement and halt the keystone xl pipeline. “i’ve been fighting keystone since it was proposed back in 2008,” mebane said.

however, the executive order to block the pipeline seemed to irritate sen. john barrasso, r-wyo., a potential forewarning of the backlash biden’s ambitious climate agenda may create among congressional republicans.

“my concern is, of course, some of the executive orders that are coming, specifically in regard to the keystone xl pipeline – it was a speech of unity and it’s important to govern that way as well,” barrasso said, referring to biden’s calls for unity in his inauguration speech.

the new president may also face opposition from progressive democrats and activists who want to see much more dramatic action and policy on reducing carbon emissions.

“rejoining the paris agreement is great, but that’s not the end of the story. a lot of work needs to happen to establish a new identity and then live up to it. revisiting pipeline decisions is fine, but we still have to decarbonize,” said daniel bresette, executive director of environmental and energy study institute.

biden will now embark on an unprecedented climate agenda to make progress on an issue that the president sees as the greatest challenge the country and world faces. his plan includes an investment of $2 trillion in renewable energy and overhauls of transport and manufacturing in the hopes of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.