Copnehagen: Friday 18th December 11:30pm

I woke this morning and put on the television in the hotel to see Barack Obama stepping off his plane at Copenhagen airport. I was glad he was here. I was glad to see leaders from all over the world turn up here. Even though by now there was little hope for an effective and binding agreement, at least their presence showed that they took it seriously enough – and had been lobbied enough – to show up.

This morning Copenhagen was as bitterly cold as yesterday. I hoped that the lack of warmth outside did not reflect a lack of warmth inside the Bella Centre. Because of the shambles all week over who and who did not have passes to go in, I hadn’t actually gone there until this morning. I was entitled to a pass as a member of the European Parliament Environment Committee but then things changed, numbers were restricted, and eventually, with thousands of others, I couldn’t get access. There were plenty of other just as useful things to do and I had very detailed briefings from our representatives in the Bella Centre so I wasn’t too bothered. But this was the last day and I felt I should go there myself.

It’s a sprawling white complex, made whiter by the snow. Having been to several summits, I wasn’t surprised to see rows of heavily armed police guarding the high metal barricades surrounding the centre. One lone wind turbine stood inside the complex, turning quickly in the icy wind. Surely that was put there just for show for the conference?!

Ignoring the police!

The police eyed everyone suspiciously but were unsure quite how to react when two young men arrived (I suppose school teachers) leading a party of about ten five or six year old boys, explaining to them what was happening behind the fences and why it was important. They crossed the road and went right up to the barricades and the police shuffled their feet. But they needn’t have worried. The group soon left, having ignored the police completely! 

After taking a few long distance photos of the Bella Centre, we made our way around the temporary perimeter fence. We passed some, but not many, demonstrations on the way. The most striking image was that of starving people, knee deep in ice in the frozen pond alongside the centre. We were bombarded by protesters calling for mass vegetarianism to fight climate change – if only it was that simple!!

Starving statues outside the Bella Center

It was too cold to hang around so we got on the train which took us directly back to the city centre and returned to the Klimaforum. It was mid-day by now and the stalls and exhibitions were packing up. I was disappointed to have missed the Centre for Alternative Technology exhibition on Zero Carbon Britain but so much had been happening. 

Today was an anticlimax after the frenetic activity of earlier in the week. Only a constantly droning helicopter above the city reminded us that many world leaders were gathered there. As the hours went by and the daylight faded, so did the remnant of hope that we had. 

Many of my colleagues left for home. It felt like we were in a limbo – waiting for something, expecting nothing. We would have given up except that the television reports reminded us that the talks were still going on. What were they doing? No-one seemed to really know. 

Then eventually we went for something to eat and half way through the meal got a text saying that there was an agreement. We went back to the hotel room and put on the TV and as I write I am listening to the statement by Barack Obama. Of course, it’s not binding, it’s nothing like what is needed…but it is an agreement that the US has signed up to. Many people don’t believe Obama can deliver. But personally I trust him and for now I will give him the benefit of the doubt. That doesn’t mean stopping campaigning – it means campaigning even harder. 

I have some major questions before seeing the detail of this agreement. What do the other countries think? What about the funding issues? And where was the European Union??? The EU has truly lost the accolade as the world leader in the campaign to fight climate change. 

I’m not sure whether this situation is good or bad or even indifferent. I will have to speak to my colleagues who were in the negotiations to make a proper assessment. It certainly is not the legally binding agreement the world needs to keep global warming below two degrees centigrade. No-one pretends it is. So even if it is a step forward there is no doubt that the world leaders have missed the opportunity to make a huge difference in the fight against climate change. That fact in itself will cause despair all over the world. I’m curious to see what spin is put on this story tomorrow – I can’t imagine. But I do feel some comfort that world governments (on the whole) recognise the magnitude of the threat we face. Incredibly, we still don’t have the power the banks have to make governments stump up money with no hesitation at all – with no question of whether or not we can afford it. But I feel that maybe – just maybe – the message has begun to sink in. This process started back in 1992. I’ve been campaigning hard on this for ten years – many others for many, many more years. We wanted much, much more. But it’s a start!

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