If President Obama is serious about confronting global warming, he’ll have the opportunity to show it through the actions of U.S. representatives at the United Nations climate change summit in Doha, Qatar, next week.

Shortly after his re-election this month, Obama invoked “the destructive power of a warming planet” and told reporters he would make climate change a priority in his second term.

Veteran climate observers, long exhausted by politicians’ plentiful talk and scarce action on global warming, will be watching to see whether U.S. envoy Todd Stern sticks to America’s commitment to the climate guidelines reached last year in Durban, South Africa, which include limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius.

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.