The U.S. saw some of its costliest natural disasters in the last few months during the Earth’s hottest year on record because of greenhouse gases emitted by fossil fuels

More is needed to combat climate change, however, Biden said. Mayors need to help push Congress for extra disaster relief funding to “upgrade the power grids, plant millions of trees [and] build resilient communities that can withstand extreme weather,” he said. “Not only to rebuild, but to build back better than before.”

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