We left the hotel and headed for the town and the Klimaforum09 Centre. The snow had stopped falling but the temperature had dropped a lot and there was a biting wind. We were glad to reach the warmth of the centre where hundreds of people were milling around, trying to find out the latest news on the negotiations. There were several meetings taking place and I caught the end of one debate on why nuclear energy is not an option to combat climate change. 

I met George Monbiot who had been here for several days taking part in meetings. We talked about the general pessimism about any meaningful agreement but also about the increasing frustration and anger people were feeling. Thousands had come here for an opportunity to lobby and influence the world leaders but had found themselves shut out of the Bella Centre where everything was happening. The feeling was that the “climate deniers” had much more access to the decisions makers than we had. 

I spoke to several people who had waited for hours on end outside the Bella Centre and failed to get in. I heard stories about people arriving from African and Asian countries who had been kept outside waiting, without access to food, hot drinks or toilets and without suitable warm clothes. Luned Jones from Oxfam Cymru came to meet us and told of similar experiences. Oxfam is one of the agencies that are already incredibly active in fighting climate change and raising awareness of the catastrophe we face if we fail to address this now.

I did interviews with Iolo ap Dafydd from BBC Wales/Cymru for today’s news. Iolo had covered events since the first day and would be staying until the end. There are several people here from Wales who have come not only to lobby the leaders but to show what Wales – as a small country with a commitment to sustainable development – has done already on fighting climate change.

Wales Environment Minister Jane Davidson, who has also been here since the start, emphasised the impact that Wales has had in her work with the network of sub-state regions for sustainable development. Her contacts with developing countries and others had shown that although we, perhaps, don’t shout enough about our ground breaking commitments to reducing greenhouse gases year on year from 2011, we are leading the way. I am very proud of what the One Wales government has done. None of us are saying that it is enough – we know that we have further to go – but we are acting and not just talking.

George, Luned and Jane left to head home for Wales tonight. I have mixed feelings. I wish I was going home but at the same time I want to be here when Obama and others arrive to add my voice to the thousands of others pleading for a legally binding, effective deal tomorrow. It’s hard to believe that after the many, many years of campaigning for this we are now within hours of the end and we are facing probable failure. Some people look on the “bright” side and say that no deal is better than a bad deal. They are probably right. But if they can’t reach a deal now, when will they? I wish we could get close enough to look into their eyes and really challenge them.

The horrible reality is that what the (majority of) world leaders are discussing behind the closed doors of the Bella Centre is money. It’s not fighting climate change; it’s not our legacy to our children and grandchildren or the future of our planet – it’s all about money. We can find unlimited money to bail out the banks or to spend on nuclear weapons, but when it comes to shouldering our responsibilities to fighting climate change in the poorest countries – or at home – we talk about what “we” can afford.

We can’t afford not to act now – and now means – Friday 18th December 2009. 

Everyone is thinking of Christmas, including me. I want to go home on Saturday and spend Christmas with my family knowing that it was worth me coming to Copenhagen – that I and the people of Wales have made a difference. 

Tomorrow will tell.

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