STILL OUT IN THE COLD

President Bush’s two-day summit on global warming this week was not, as some of the European delegates complained privately, a total bust. Our own expectations weren’t high, but we can note several positive outcomes.

The meeting brought together 17 nations — the Group of 8 industrialized countries, plus big developing nations like China, India and Brazil — that are responsible for four-fifths of the world’sglobal warming emissions.

It displayed a more open-minded and somewhat chastened George Bush, now in legacy mode and no longer in deep denial about the existence ofglobal warming or the fact that humans and fossil fuels are primarily responsible for it.

And it produced a useful discussion about the huge investment in advanced technologies that will be required to stabilize and reduce these emissions.

But these positives pale in comparison to the negatives, chiefly Mr. Bush’s failure to commit the United States to anything new or bold or inspiring — exactly what everyone who went to Washington was looking for.

He talked about major new investments but promised none. He offered to play host to further talks but showed no appetite for forging a new collective agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol. And, most alarmingly, he refused to commit the United States to a sustained, mandatory program to reduce its own emissions.

He did not, in short, show any inclination to do what a great nation is supposed to do, which is to lead. And worst of all, he gave the Chinese, who have been using America’s inaction to justify their own, no reason to change course.

The divide between the United States and its industrial allies in Europe and Japan is easily stated. They want firm, obligatory targets and a clear timetable for reaching them; Mr. Bush prefers a country-by-country, voluntary approach. They believe that the necessary efficiencies and technologies will emerge only when a stiff price is placed on carbon and nations are forced to meet legally binding commitments; Mr. Bush seems to believe they will spring up magically, as if from the Tooth Fairy.

Rhetorically, Mr. Bush has moved. In terms of substance, he remains as isolated as ever. In his absence, it will be up to Congress to take the lead.