Whatever is happening to the world, there is no warming in Copenhagen.
Delegates queued for over four hours outside the Bella Centre this Monday morning in zero degree (centigrade) temperature waiting to enter the compound. Around midday came the first official announcement to a now almost frozen mob of 5000 that it would be at least another 3 – 6 hours before they would gain access to the compound (where they would have the pleasure of further queuing to actually register).
Apparently the machines issuing photographic passes had broken down and the UNFCCC secretariat were now only able to process 50 people per hour!
Meanwhile, inside the Bella halls, there was a similar (if more comfortable) cooling. Both developed and developing nations had walked out of talks over specific targets for each group.
This morning African nations led a boycott of a key session led by the President of COP 15 and CMP 5, Connie Hedegaard (who is set to become the new European “Commissioner for Climate Action” in 2010), bringing negotiations to a halt. After a suspension of nearly four hours, during which Australia also led a developed nations walkout, the delegates returned later and the talks resumed. These tactics have only increased the pressure and lost time for both sides.
The briefing for non-governmental organisations by Yvo de Boer, the UNFCCC Executive Secretary was cancelled again. Instead for almost an hour, other UNFCCC representatives took questions on the logistics (or lack of logistics) for the Conference rather than on the actual issues before negotiators.
Later in a Q&A for NGOs, President Connie Hedegaard also answered questions about the logistics of the conference, the status of the negotiations, and gave a candid assessment of where she sees the process going. She confirmed that it is still a two-track process that the delegations are working on, with the details in annexes to be worked out later in the year. She said that while there has been a lot of noise throughout the weeks, she has confidence that the ‘world leaders won’t go home empty handed’.
Hits of the day:
The comment by the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, Nobuo Tanaka, that “carbon capture and storage is the most important technology to achieve the 450 scenario.”
The charm and good humour demonstrated by our colleagues from Friends of the Earth International for their camaraderie in the horrendous queues to enter the Bella Centre.
Miss of the day:
The failure of the UNFCCC Secretariat and the Danish Government to plan and then cater for the thousands who had booked for the Conference but were left stranded and uninformed for over four hours outside the Bella Centre in zero degree temperatures.
