Mr Chirac told a meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva that the right to a protected environment at a time of global warming had to be ensured. Developing nations are included in the treaty, but exempt from emission quotas on economic grounds. The Australian Prime Minister was one of the few to show some sympathy for the US position. What President Bush is concerned about, and it is an understandable concern, is you can't really have a comprehensive agreement unless you get the developing countries inside the tent. But the apparent collapse of the protocol has been welcomed by groups who question the science that underpins the idea of global warming.
Many researchers believe the impact of human emissions on the Earth's climate has been overstated.
Hence the hysteria at Mr Bush's decision to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol. In reality, global warming has little to do with complex climate change. The idea that we can control chaotic climate, which is governed by a billion factors, through fiddling about with a couple of politically selected gases is just carbon claptrap.