François Hollande, the French president, has hit back at comments by US secretary of state John Kerry that the global climate accord due to be signed in Paris next month would not be a legally binding treaty by stressing that making the agreement legal was the entire point. Mr Kerry said in an FT interview on Wednesday that the Paris climate change talks would not deliver a “treaty” or any kind of agreement that legally requires countries to cut their carbon emissions. On Thursday, Mr Hollande responded: “If the agreement is not legally binding, there won’t be an agreement, because that would mean it would be impossible to verify or control the undertakings that are made.”