Not really true, many countries made moves. It didn't help that the US was/is being a gigantic ignorant petulant child about the whole situation, signaling to the rest of the world that we were going to make meaningful emission reduction an uphill battle.
My favorite line I hear as a Canadian is that we don't make up enough of the population of the world to care about our emissions. Usually followed or preceded by some form of 'and besides the other guys aren't doing it'. Somehow people can't seem to see the irony.
It is sad but people won't do the right thing unless it costs them nothing.