Biden mentioned the climate crisis just once during the State of the Union — while touting a plan to create clean-energy jobs

• The climate crisis was directly mentioned just once in Biden's State of the Union Tuesday night.
• This came a day after a UN report that detailed the deadly impact of the warming climate.

The climate crisis is worsening every day, but it barely got a mention in President Joe Biden's State of the Union address.

During his major speech Tuesday night, Biden touched on a range of issues impacting America and the world, including inflation, rising costs, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But what some would argue is the most pressing issue of them all — the climate crisis — only got one direct mention from the president. It was related to his economic plan to create more clean-energy jobs.

"We'll create good jobs for millions of Americans, modernizing roads, airports, ports, and waterways all across America," Biden said in his prepared remarks. "And we'll do it all to withstand the devastating effects of the climate crisis and promote environmental justice."

He later touted the benefits of his American Rescue Plan — specifically how it "cut energy costs for families an average of $500 a year by combatting climate change," which his Deputy National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi noted on Twitter, as well.

—Ali Zaidi (@alizaidi46) March 2, 2022

When Biden first unveiled his Build Back Better economic plan, he proposed $555 billion to fight the crisis, which would have been the largest investment for the climate in any piece of legislation. But that proposal has been put on the backburner after opposition from centrist Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, placing uncertainty on if, and when, Americans will receive major investments to combat the worsening climate crisis.

Biden's speech also comes just one day after the United Nations released a harrowing climate report that found up to 3.6 billion people are highly vulnerable to climate change, and the percentage of people exposed to deadly heat stress, like heat stroke, could increase from 30% today to 76% by the end of the century.

"We are in an emergency headed for a disaster," Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, said at a Monday press conference.

"Climate change isn't lurking around the corner ready to pounce," she said, adding, "It's already upon us, raining down blows on billions of people."