In December 1997 the rich industrialised countries agreed to reduce their emissions of the gases that cause global warming as a first step towards stabilising the world's climate.

They agreed the 'Kyoto Protocol', an international treaty which sets targets for cutting countries' climate-changing emissions to below 1990 levels. The EU accepted a target cut of 8%, the US 7% and Japan 6%.

In March 2001, just weeks after his inauguration, President Bush announced that the US would not ratify the Kyoto Protocol. He declared it "dead".

But by the end of that year, the international community showed that the Protocol was still alive despite the absence of the US, by reaching agreement on the rules for its implementation. The US was not party to this agreement.

The Kyoto Protocol will not come into force until 55 countries, representing 55% of total 1990 emissions, ratify it. In other words these countries must enact legislation to meet the terms of the protocol, which would be legally binding.

The EU and Canada, amongst others, have now ratified Kyoto - all we need now is Russia and it can come into force without the USA.

But America is the largest polluter in the world. With 4% of the world's population, it discharges a quarter of the world's carbon dioxide. President Bush did not hesitate to sabotage attempts to agree the Kyoto Protocol. Esso led the oil lobby against the Kyoto Protocol and fully supported and encouraged Bush's moves.

The Kyoto Protocol is only a first step towards stabilising the world's climate. But it is a vital one. No country has the right to declare it dead and condemn us all to the nightmare of global warming.

(Updated February 2003)