Washington, Dec 19 (IANS): US President Barack Obama intensified his criticism of Republicans for refusing to admit global warming is occurring.

"Keep in mind that right now, the American Republican Party is the only major party that I can think of in the advanced world that effectively denies climate change," Xinhua quoted Obama as saying on Friday. "I mean, it's an outlier."

"Even the far right parties in many of these countries... may not like immigrants for example, but they admit, yes, the science tells us that we have to do something about climate change," Obama said.

Obama, a Democrat, intends to cement his climate legacy before leaving office in 2016, but he has acted mostly through executive power, including his push for emission cuts from power plants.

The Republicans who control the US Congress, however, denied the reality of climate change and claimed that Obama's climate policies may produce significant damage to the US economy.

Such intense opposition sowed doubts about whether the US will honour its climate promises in the future, if Obama is succeeded by a Republic.