“The most powerful solutions we have to fight climate change is all around us, the world’s forests. Trees breathe carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. And yet each minute, the world is chopping down the equivalent of 10 soccer fields worth of forest.”

Biden referred to President-Elect Donald Trump, though not by name, when he said his successor could weaken climate policy. Biden added that while he is leaving office in January, his administration has created a solid foundation of climate policy that can be made even stronger if the future administration chooses to do so.

“It’s true, some may seek to lie, deny or delay the clean energy revolution that’s underway in America, but nobody, nobody can reverse it, nobody,” Biden continued. “Not when so many people, regardless of party or politics, are enjoying its benefits.”

Biden said shifting climate patterns are not just a domestic matter, but an international one, and called on other foreign leaders to consider their positions, saying economies around the globe are affected by changing weather patterns.

“Not when countries around the world are harnessing the clean energy revolution to pull ahead themselves,” Biden said. “The question now is, which government will stand in the way, and which will seize the enormous economic opportunity?”

The president also took an aerial tour of the Amazon. A pool reporter traveling with him said the flight went toward the Rio Negro River, where the reporter said that “leafy green treetops and vegetation” spanned as far as the eye could see.

A map from the White House showed that the president and reporters flew over “wildlife refuge, shore erosion, fire damage and grounded ships,” ABC News reported.

Researchers have said that limiting global warming to targets proposed in the Paris Agreement could keep tropical regions from reaching temperatures that are beyond human tolerability.

They said if countries fail to cap warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the tropics could surpass the “survival limit,” making life in the world’s hottest latitudes intolerable.

Biden also toured the local Museu da Amazônia, where he engaged with “local indigenous leaders, environmental defenders, conservationists, and entrepreneurs,” according to the White House.

The president’s visit to the Amazon came amid the COP 29 conference on climate change initiatives, which is taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan until Thursday.