"There is puzzlement around the world" over the election to Congress of politicians who campaigned on their opposition to restricting carbon emissions, which are blamed for global warming, said the US Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern.

"I don't think the climate (change) deniers represent anything like a majority or even a very large minority," Stern insisted to reporters in a suburban Virginia hotel at the conclusion of a Major Economies Forum focused on energy policy and climate change.

"There's no question that it is something that needs to be addressed and dealt with in this country," Stern added. "The message needs to be disseminated and there needs to be the right kind of educational processes."

Republican victories in the November 2 midterm polls all but doomed prospects for a national plan to battle climate change.

Environmentalists fear they could also hinder Washington's efforts on the global stage, including at the annual UN climate meet in Cancun, Mexico later this month.

Stern however insisted in the United States there is "a significant basis of support and belief among the public for the proposition that climate change and global warming are significant threats, and that action needs to be taken."

After quoting the famous saying in US politics that "everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts," Stern said: "people who want to look at the facts and pretend they're not there are not in the long run going to do us any good."

Stern said the United States was "certainly not going to go back" from commitments made at last December's Copenhagen summit, which critics point to as a failure because no legal, binding commitments were made.

The United States and China, the world's largest source of greenhouse gases, clashed at a UN climate gathering last month, accusing each other of blocking progress ahead of the Mexico summit.

The world's largest rich and emerging economies, including China, however vowed after a Group of 20 meeting earlier this month to "spare no effort to reach a balanced and successful outcome" in Cancun.

From November 29 to December 10, 194 countries meet in the Mexican resort city in an attempt to hammer out an agreement to curb greenhouse gases after 2012, when the current arrangement expires.

With a dimmed prospect of a path-breaking deal there, efforts have shifted towards more modest and incremental steps.

Stern backed such steps on Thursday, saying the summit would focus on smaller and more achievable initiatives to address deforestation, financing and technology transfer, while maintaining that "very significant agreements" could still be reached.

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