State of the Union 2024: What Biden did (and didn’t say) about the climate crisis

At a fiery State of the Union address, President Joe Biden put his case to the American people on why they should return him to the White House for a second term, touting his record on the economy, immigration, gun safety and reproductive freedoms.

Yet on the climate crisis, which remains a politically divisive issue in the US despite increasing impacts, Mr Biden made few remarks, and attempted to appeal to as broad a base as possible.

Here’s six climate takeaways from SOTU night.

In all, the word “climate” was mentioned five times during the SOTU. But Mr Biden was quick to draw a line between his position and that of the Republican party, particularly the MAGA faithful of Donald Trump.

«We are also making history by confronting the climate crisis, not denying it,» he said.

Mr Biden referred to the “climate crisis” rather than climate change, underlining the seriousness of the global issue which he has previously called an “existential threat”.

Mr Biden referenced his action on the climate crisis as the “most significant… ever in the history of the world”.

His administration’s Inflation Reduction Act has pumped around $400bn into renewable energy across the states, and the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is both updating America’s aging roads, bridges and tunnels, and adapting them for a future of more extreme weather and sea-level rise. But when it comes to the most significant action, that depends on how you look at it. In terms of renewable energy growth, the US trails China which is building capacity at a pace unmatched by any other country.

And because of its population size, solar and wind still make up around 20 per cent of electricity generation in the US.

Other countries have both a large population