WATCH: Biden calls climate crisis ‘an existential threat’ | 2023 State of the Union

In his second State of the Union address, President Joe Biden said that the Inflation Reduction Act is “the most significant investment ever” on climate change. He noted extreme weather events and natural disasters that have affected the United States, including record-breaking storms, floods, droughts and wildfires, all of which can be made more severe and frequent due to climate change.

The president also touted federal efforts to build 500,000 EV charging stations across the country, and to make electric vehicles and energy-efficient appliances more affordable for the average consumer through tax credits.

“The climate crisis doesn’t care if you’re in a red or blue state,” Biden said. “It’s an existential threat. We have an obligation — not to ourselves, but to our children and grandchildren — to confront it.”

Biden’s Feb. 7 address comes a year after Russia invaded Ukraine and amid new diplomatic tensions between the U.S. and China over a suspected surveillance balloon. This is Biden’s second State of the Union address, as his first was a joint address to Congress in April 2021.

Last year, Biden used his address to emphasize themes of bipartisanship and unity. But he now faces a split Congress, with the GOP-led House launching efforts to investigate his family and his administration.

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