But even up against this ticking clock, Senate Democrats and their leader Chuck Schumer are stalling on much-needed climate action. The climate investments in the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) would meaningfully address the carbon pollution fueling climate change, and give the world a shot at averting runaway climate catastrophe. But without BBBA’s climate investments, U.S. emissions will remain on track to drive warming above the international 2° Celsius target, making it nearly impossible to meet President Biden’s important climate commitments. Every day Congress fails to act means greater chaos and destruction in years to come.

There is a consensus among Congressional Democrats, from the most stalwart progressives to the most politically vulnerable moderates, that Congress must act now to deliver the transformative climate investments in the Build Back Better Act. Even Senator Joe Manchin has expressed confidence that the Senate has agreement on BBBA’s climate investments. The party may need to make hard choices to reach a final deal, but the climate can’t wait. As midterm elections approach and the shutdown cliff looms, time is running out—Majority Leader Chuck Schumer must put climate at the top of the Senate’s agenda and reach an agreement to put a bill with the historic climate provisions in BBBA on President Biden’s desk before his State of the Union speech on March 1.

We’re Out of Time

There’s a hard, nonnegotiable limit on the carbon pollution humans can emit into the atmosphere, past which climate change will become irreversibly catastrophic. The Paris Agreement set a global aspiration to keep warming well below 2° Celsius, with a target of 1.5°C. If atmospheric greenhouse gas levels  venture much higher than today’s levels, we risk runaway climate change—and a nearly inconceivable future. Sea level rise could swamp entire coastal cities; year-round heat waves will render parts of the globe uninhabitable; droughts will deplete aquifers and desertify farmland, threatening the lives of millions and driving millions more to migrate across borders in search of a safer climate.

Scientists have identified how much additional carbon we can afford to pump into the atmosphere if we are to meet the Paris targets, known as the “carbon budget”, and projected the timelines on which we need to reduce and eliminate carbon pollution. At current emission rates, the world will exhaust the budget by the end of this decade, and spiral past the 1.5°C target. The U.S. is rapidly burning through what little budget remains, with a carbon pollution surge in 2021. Without serious intervention—in the form of BBBA’s climate investments paired with ambitious executive action—Democrats will all but guarantee a dramatically warmer world, and escalating climate disaster for generations to come.

Further delay is not an option. This is our last best chance to tackle the climate crisis before it’s too late. BBBA’s climate investments, paired with executive action, are our final opportunity to avert climate catastrophe.

>> Related: Why We Can’t Afford Not to Pass the Climate Investments in Build Back Better <<

This is Our Moment

Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats still have a chance to take action, even as the window of opportunity rapidly closes. Build Back Better’s $555 billion in climate spending would be transformative in the fight to mitigate climate change. Those dollars are spread across four buckets: clean energy tax credits ($320b), resilience ($105b), manufacturing and supply chain incentives ($110b), and clean energy procurement ($20b). Taken together, they constitute an unprecedented economy-wide investment in deploying clean energy, building resilient communities, and igniting American clean technology development and manufacturing.

Those investments would also create jobs in growing industries. Wind turbine technicians and solar panel installers are two of the five fastest-growing occupations in America, and the transformative climate spending in the Build Back Better Act would accelerate that trend. Just a few of the clean energy tax credits included in the package would together create 1.2 million jobs, and the Civilian Climate Corps alone would create 300,000 more.

Democrats Must Act Now

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats have a choice: they can invest in climate action now, cut carbon pollution and kickstart the clean energy transition—or they can kick the can down the road, lose that economic opportunity, and all but guarantee runaway climate disaster. The math is simple, and our carbon budget is running low.

The Build Back Better Act’s climate investments offer a path forward. The climate provisions have won consensus in the Democratic caucus, and momentum is building in Congress for a deal that delivers on climate. We can’t afford further delay. Democratic leadership in Congress and President Biden must secure a deal on BBBA now that includes these robust climate investments before March 1st.

Call your senators and urge them to take up the Build Back Better Act’s transformative climate investments. It will take just a minute, and we even provide a script.