Cabinet had discussed the idea of ratifying the Kyoto Protocol many times, ever since it was negotiated in 1997. Robert Hill had done a sterling job at the Conference in negotiating a target for Australia that frankly looked impossible at the outset. At the time I was surprised that, after investing so much effort in getting such a good outcome, we did not ratify it. The reason was that the protocol, by leaving out huge emitters in the developing world, was going to have little impact on global climate change. The protocol was flawed by the fact that it covered only the developed world.