Doha climate talks: US defends 'enormous' efforts US deputy climate envoy Jonathan Pershing Photograph: Rogan Ward/Reuters The United States defended its track record on fighting climate change on Monday as UN talks began in Doha, saying it is making "enormous" efforts to slow global warming and help the poor nations most affected by it. Other countries have accused Washington of hampering the climate talks ever since the Bush administration abandoned the Kyoto protocol, the 1997 treaty limiting emissions of heat-trapping gases by industrialised countries. As negotiators met for a two-week session in oil and gas-rich Qatar, US delegate Jonathan Pershing suggested America deserved more credit. "Those who don't follow what the US is doing may not be informed of the scale and extent of the effort, but it's enormous," Pershing said. He noted that the Obama administration has taken a series of steps, including sharply increasing fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks, and made good on promises of climate financing for poor countries. A climate bill that would have capped emissions stalled in the Senate. "It doesn't mean enough is being done," Pershing said. It's clear the global community, and that includes us, has to do more if we are going to succeed at avoiding the damages projected in a warming world. The two-decade-old UN talks have not fulfilled their main purpose: reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that scientists say are warming the planet. The goal is to keep the global temperature rise under 2C (3.6F), compared to pre-industrial times. Efforts taken so far to rein in emissions, reduce deforestation and promote clean technology are not getting the job done. A recent projection by the World Bank showed temperatures are expected to increase by up to 4C (7.2F) by 2100. Scientists warn that dangerous warming effects could include flooding of coastal cities and island nations, disruptions to agriculture and drinking water, the spread of diseases and the extinction of species. Attempts to forge a new climate treaty failed in Copenhagen three years ago, but countries agreed last year to try again, giving themselves a deadline of 2015 to adopt a new pact. Several issues need to be resolved by then, including how to spread the burden of emissions cuts between rich and poor countries. That is unlikely to be decided in the current talks in the Qatari capital of Doha, where negotiators from nearly 200 countries are focusing on extending the Kyoto protocol, and trying to raise billions of dollars to help developing countries adapt to a shifting climate. We owe it to our people, the global citizenry. We owe it to our children to give them a safer future than what they are currently facing," said South African roreign minister, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, who led last year's talks in Durban, South Africa. "Climate change is no longer some distant threat for the future, but is with us today," said Greenpeace climate campaigner Martin Kaiser, who was also at the Doha talks. At the end of a year that has seen the impacts of climate change devastate homes and families around the world, the need for action is obvious and urgent. The Kyoto protocol is seen as the most important climate agreement reached in the UN process so far. The first "commitment period" expires this year, so negotiators in Doha will try to extend it as a stopgap measure until a wider deal can be reached. Environmentalists found the choice of Qatar as host of the two-week conference ironic. The tiny Persian Gulf emirate owes its wealth to large deposits of gas and oil, and it emits more greenhouse gases per capita than any other nation. Qatar has not even announced any climate action in the UN process. Former Qatari oil minister Abdullah Bin Hamad al-Attiyah opened the conference Monday, saying: "We should not concentrate on the per capita (emissions). We should concentrate on the amount from each country. "I think Qatar is the right place to host" the conference, he said.