Environmental groups and officials warn US will derail progress at Durban by blocking moves toward climate change fund

Environmental groups and elected officials have warned Barack Obama that America was emerging as the spoiler of the UN climate summit in Durban, unless there is a big shift in its negotiating stance.

In two separate, but strongly worded rebukes, Obama heard from some of his closest allies that his administration was not living up to his election promises on climate action.

Both appeals on Wednesday reflect the frustration among environmental groups that Obama will be more focused on avoiding any potential damage to his re-election prospects, than on moving towards a global climate deal in South Africa.

The letter to the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, from the leaders of 16 aid and environmental groups, said American negotiators were blocking progress on key elements of the Durban summit, including the creation of a fund, worth up to $100bn a year, to help poor countries cope with climate change.

The organisations, including the Sierra Club, the largest mass-based environmental organisation in the US and the Union of Concerned Scientists, said Obama had generated enormous hope when he was elected in 2008, promising US action on climate change.

"Three years later, America risks being viewed not as a global leader on climate change, but as a major obstacle to progress," the letter says. "US positions on two major issues – the mandate for future negotiations and climate finance – threaten to impede in Durban the global co-operation so desperately needed to address the threat of climate change."

It accuses US negotiators of being unwilling to work with EU and Chinese negotiators to come up with an arrangement for global emissions cuts as well as clinging to its position even as other countries make compromises. "We urge you to instruct US negotiators to show much greater flexibility," the letter says.

A second appeal, from the Climate Ethics Campaign (CEC), argued America had a moral obligation as the world's largest historic emitter to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The appeal was endorsed by around 1,200 elected officials, business leaders and activists, and formally launched on Wednesday afternoon by the head of the Senate environment committee, the California Democrat, Barbara Boxer.

"People from all walks of life across the US are extremely concerned about global warming. But progress has stalled because our government keeps debating whether addressing the issue makes economic sense and whether the science is settled," Bob Doppelt, co-ordinater of CEC, said in a statement.

(By Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian, 30/11/2011)