Only a month ago President Bush's new Environmental Protection Agency director agreed at the G8 meeting in Trieste that Kyoto was the way ahead. However, President Bush now seems to have unilaterally rejected the Kyoto Protocol 'because it exempts many countries from compliance and would cause serious harm to the American economy'. The fact that climate change is taking place is now accepted by the scientific community. The latest UN scientific report says that temperatures could rise by up to 5.8 C over the next 100 years if no action is taken. The consequence will be rising sea levels inundating our coasts and more severe weather - floods, hurricanes and droughts.
Climate change is caused by industrial emissions.
Today's biggest polluters were the first to industrialise and they have responsibility to take the first action to tackle climate change. But it is not true that developing countries are exempt from the Protocol. It calls on them to develop programmes to address climate change. In future decades all countries must do more. And many developing countries are already taking active steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as I have seen for myself in India, China and South America.