President Biden labeled climate change as an “emergency” on Wednesday but stopped short of declaring a national emergency following pressure from climate advocates. 

In a speech at a former coal plant in Somerset, Mass., Biden also pledged to take action to combat the threat of climate change after congressional action stalled. 

President Biden traveled to Massachusetts on Air Force One Wednesday to speak about the “climate crisis” linked to use of fossil fuels — pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere in the process.

With the presidential aircraft scheduled to land in Warwick, Rhode Island, Biden will then join a largely gasoline-powered motorcade to travel 25 miles to Brayton Point Power Station — a onetime coal-burning plant that is being refurbished to support offshore windmill-generated energy — in Somerset, Mass.

As President Biden's climate ambitions continue to languish in the Senate, he traveled to the site of a former coal power plant in Massachusetts to announce new funding designed to help communities bear extreme heat, as well as tout the country's developing offshore wind industry.

"As president, I have the responsibility to act with urgency and resolve when our nation faces clear and present danger. And that's what climate change is about," Biden said. "It is literally — not figuratively — a clear and present danger."