US midterms made waves at a UN climate summit on the coast of Egypt on Wednesday, as activists urged President Joe Biden to take bolder action on global warming regardless of the outcome.

Activists were optimistic that Biden’s $370 billion green energy bill would not be thwarted even if Republicans took over one or both houses of Congress.

But with Biden scheduled to attend the UN climate conference COP27 in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Friday, they also had a message for the US leader.

“I think it would be a catastrophic mistake if President Biden didn’t seize this literally golden opportunity to become the climate president the world needs now,” said Jean Su, program director for energy justice at the Centers for Biological Diversity, a US -environmental group.

“We are literally at the tipping point for an uninhabitable world,” she said at a news conference, urging Biden to stop fossil fuel production and use his powers as president to declare a climate emergency.

But Su and others were also pleased to see pro-climate change candidates win seats in Congress.

“Many climate champions have won in states, governorships, legislatures and more,” said Frances Colon, director of climate policy at the Center for American Progress.

“What we expect is that they will convert those winds into more climate action,” she said.

With the majority of the races advertised, Biden’s Democrats appear to have countered Republican hopes of riding a “red wave” to seize full control of Congress.

While Republicans appear to be on track to retake the House of Representatives, Democrats appear to have a good chance of retaining their Senate majority.

“Republicans were really running on platforms for inflation and gas prices up,” Colon said.

“Being backed by fossil fuels, denying elections and denying climate really hasn’t worked that well for them.”

Republicans will not be able to reverse the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden’s flagship program to green the US economy.

“What you could see about them is they’re trying to slow things down, trying to put some obstacles in the way of what the Biden administration is going to do over the next two years,” Colon said.

But activists said a Republican victory in the House of Representatives would jeopardize Biden’s pledge to contribute $11.4 billion to a $100 billion-a-year fund from rich countries to help developing countries green their economies.

Colon said Democrats must pass the bill before the new Congress is sworn in in January.

With the new Congress announced, all eyes will quickly turn to the 2024 presidential election, with Donald Trump hinting that he will announce his intentions on November 15.

Climate activists fear a Trump comeback. The former US leader pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement in 2017 – a move Biden reversed immediately after taking office.

“We know there’s a big climate denier who could announce (his candidacy) pretty soon,” said Ramon Cruz, president of the Sierra Club, a major US nongovernmental organization.

“We knew how difficult this was not just for the US but for the whole world,” he said.

The Sierra Club, which has backed candidates in this year’s election, already has 2024 on the “horizon,” he said.

But one activist had a different take on the US election’s impact on the climate agenda.

“The US acted in bad faith regardless of the election,” said Harjeet Singh, senior adviser to the Climate Action Network.

Singh said that for years the United States has blocked attempts to create a “loss and damage” mechanism through which rich polluters would compensate developing countries for the destruction caused by climate-related disasters.

The United States has backed down on the issue, but casualties and damage were the focus of COP27 when, after intense negotiations, it was finally put on the official agenda.

“The US has always been an obstructionist,” Singh said.

“Please look at the role of the US beyond what is happening in this election. It is up to the US to change course and be more constructive in its approach.”