SPIEGEL ONLINE’s Climate Countdown

Organizational Breakdown in Copenhagen

AFP

Thousands of delegates and journalists had to wait hours in the cold on Monday in order to pick up their credentials to be allowed in to the climate conference.

Conference organizers have known for months huge crowds would show up to the climate summit in Copenhagen. But on Monday, thousands of delegates and observers were forced to wait outside for hours in the bitter cold. Read SPIEGEL ONLINE’s Climate Countdown to keep up to date as the Copenhagen conference moves forward.

The Chaos of Copenhagen

 

Prior to the Copenhagen climate talks, there was plenty of skepticism that world leaders would be able to come up with a binding agreement to combat global warming. But few suspected that the hosts of the conference in Denmark would fail so miserably when it came to event organization.  

Just how catastrophic the situation has become was on full display on Monday outside the entrance to the convention hall Bella Center, where the talks are taking place. The conference hall was closed on Sunday — due to “urgent maintenance needs” according to the UN Climate Secretariat — meaning that thousands of those hoping to attend the conference on Monday were unable to pre-register. As a result, there was an immense line of people waiting to enter the facility on Monday.

 

For hours, it hardly budged. When segments of the line did manage to shuffle forward, it was only because some of those further ahead had given up because of the bitter cold. Most of those waiting in line had registered for the conference weeks in advance. There was no official information as to when the waiting masses might be allowed in — nor were there seats or even sanitary facilities for the hours-long wait.  

The problem appears to be that both the Danish summit organizers and the United Nations Climate Secretariat were inexplicably unprepared for the sheer numbers of those who wanted to attend the conference. Some 45,000 people registered for the summit — there have been no new accreditations handed out since last month. The conference center, however, can only hold 15,000 people.

“When it became clear that so many people would be coming, they should have split the conference in two parts: one for the general program and one for the political negotiations,” Tilman Santarius, head of climate and energy policy for the Green Party-aligned Heinrich Böll Stiftung, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. The organizers insist that many people came who were not registered. But even those who registered well in advance were unable to enter on Monday.

For journalists and for the 18,000 observers from non-governmental agencies, the issue of access is only to become worse. Once the so-called “high level segment” of the summit begins on Tuesday, only 7,000 observers will be allowed in. When world leaders begin arriving, the number will drop to 900. Some television journalists will be allowed in. But for those in print media, will have to stay outside.

“In view of the high number of participants, access to plenary Tycho Brahe” — the hall where the high-level negotiations are to take place — “for print media will not be permitted throughout the high-level segment,” reads a statement on the UN Climate Secretariat Web site.

On Friday, the final day of the summit, only 90 NGO observers will be allowed to attend.

“The fact that the limitations on the number of participants was agreed on only during the first week of the conference shows that the Danish summit presidency and the Climate Secretariat were not appropriately prepared,” says Santarius.

But the damage to the reputation of both Denmark and the United Nations Climate Secretariat is already substantial. “How can one expect the UN to come up with a climate agreement when they can’t even get this line under control,” grumbled one American delegate on Monday as he shivered in the winter cold.

— Christoph Seidler, in Copenhagen