Biden slams Trump team in farewell warning on climate

By Robin Bravender | 01/13/2025 04:29 PM EST

“It’s the single greatest existential threat to humanity,” President Joe Biden said of climate change during a speech Monday.

President Joe Biden speaks.

President Joe Biden speaks about foreign policy during a speech at the State Department in Washington on Monday. Susan Walsh/AP

President Joe Biden issued a dire warning about climate change Monday as President-elect Donald Trump and his team are vowing to overturn many of Biden’s climate and energy policies.

The outgoing president delivered a speech at the State Department on Monday as he prepares to hand over the reins to the Trump administration next week. Biden touted his team’s work on a broad range of issues including international climate work and domestic infrastructure and clean energy investments.

And with Trump vowing to torpedo many of Biden’s policies — including on climate and renewable energy — the outgoing president criticized the incoming administration’s stance toward energy.

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“The clean energy transition will race ahead in the years to come,” Biden said after trumpeting his own administration for making “the largest investment in climate and clean energy ever, anywhere on Earth in the history of the world.”

Some of those investments could be overturned by the incoming administration, which has vowed to claw back some money that hasn’t yet been spent. Trump has also promised to unravel Biden’s climate regulations and to expand domestic fossil fuel production.

“Some in the incoming administration are skeptical about the need for clean energy,” Biden said. “They don’t even believe climate change is real. I think they come from a different century. They’re wrong. They are dead wrong. It’s the single greatest existential threat to humanity.”

A transition to clean energy is “already happening,” Biden said. “China is trying to dominate the clean energy manufacturing, critical material supply chains. They want to capture the market of the future and create new dependencies. The United States must win that contest. We will shape the global economy and the planet for decades to come.”