"I walked away from Kyoto because it would have damaged the American economy, it would have destroyed the American economy, it was a lousy deal for the American economy," Bush told Britain's ITV television ahead of the gathering of the Group of Eight most industrialised powers Wednesday through Friday.

"If you're trying to make me say I support Kyoto, the answer is no," he said.

Bush recalled that many developing countries were also not involved in the landmark environment treaty that took effect in February and commits signatory states to slash emissions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

"Some of the discussions we're gonna have at the G8 thanks to Tony Blair's leadership will be on the necessity to work with India and China, to see how we can share technologies with them" with regard to climate change, Bush noted.

The interview, given to ITV on Saturday, was only aired Monday night, but the television channel had already released many of the key quotes from the US president the previous day.

During the discussion, Bush acknowledged that the changes in the world's climate were caused "to a certain extent" by humans.

"If fossil fuels create greenhouse gases, we're burning fossil fuels, as well as many other countries," he said.

The Kyoto Protocol requires industrialised countries that have ratified it to limit their emissions by a 2012 timeframe as compared to a 1990 benchmark.

The president has strongly opposed action against climate change since he took office in 2001 in favor of further studies of the phenomena -- despite significant global pressure that the world's largest consumer of fossil fuels change its policies.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who hosts the three-day gathering by Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Russia and the United States, wants to secure deals on climate change as well as African aid and debt.

Bush's position, however, may derail any chance of a significant agreement on global warming emerging from the annual conclave.

"My hope is -- and I think the hope of Tony Blair is -- to move beyond the Kyoto debate and to collaborate on new technologies," said Bush.

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