Delegates from the United States made no concrete commitments at the Doha climate conference on Wednesday, despite great pressure both domestically and internationally.

Activists march to demand action to address climate change in Doha December 1, 2012. These United Nations climate negotiations will be taking place until December 7. According to local media, activists from across the Arab region will be calling on their leaders to pledge to reduce their emissions by 2020. [Photo/Agencies]

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday called on the US to take a leading role in climate-change issues and provide more technology and financial support to developing countries.

In US President Barack Obama's re-election victory speech in November, he mentioned "the destructive power of a warming planet".

However, US negotiators failed to make further financial or technological support for developing countries other than repeatedly saying these issue will not "fall to the ground" in later climate-change talks.

"When I issued my statement to welcome his re-election, one of the key messages was to work together with the United States on climate change," Ban said.

"The climate-change issue should be led by the developed world. They should provide technology and financial support so that developing countries can mitigate and adapt," he said.

"The impact of climate change affects everyone equally without regard to where they are coming from, rich or poor. So it is only reasonable that richer countries should assume leadership, and the US should play and can play an important role," Ban said.

"No one is immune to climate change ― rich or poor. It is an existential challenge for the whole human race," he said.

Kumi Naidoo, executive director of Greenpeace International, noted that within days after superstorm Sandy hit the northeastern US, the newly re-elected Obama promised that in his second term he will take action to protect people from climate change, but in Doha, "we see the same negotiators using the same blocking tactics".

Samantha Smith, World Wildlife Fund global-climate and energy-initiative leader, agreed. "We have got another critical chance to get a global agreement in 2015, also under President Obama. What will his legacy be ― climate failure? The US must stop blocking and proactively push discussions on how to raise ambition between now and 2020," she said.

The US was again given the "Fossil of the Day" on Tuesday, an award that NGOs give out on a daily basis to countries they deem to have blocked progress in climate-change negotiations.

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