“No,” Watson said when asked if that would make the administration shift policy. The White House has said Bush would veto the measure in its current form.

Watson said that any US energy legislation would have an influence on climate measures. “This energy bill will have a major impact on what is possible,” he said.

Bush says that Kyoto, which now obliges 36 developed nations to cut emissions by at least 5 per cent below 1990 levels by 2012 as part of a fight against climate change, would hurt the US economy. He says it wrongly excludes targets for developing nations.

Bali is meant to launch a two-year “roadmap” to negotiate a broader successor to Kyoto by the end of 2009 that would involve all nations to help limit ever more droughts, erosion, melting Arctic ice and rising seas from global warming.

A new global deal, including countries such as China and India, could plug Bush’s objection that Kyoto does not demand enough of the developing world.

Watson said the US delegation did not feel isolated in Bali despite Australia’s ratification of Kyoto. “We are the ones who are here, we are very involved in the ‘roadmap’ discussions. This administration is planning to take a positive role in that process,” he said.