A day at COP15

Today will be a day to remember. I was heading for Copenhagen 06.30 with my friend and we were at Bella Center already 07.15, and thought that I will be part of COP15 in the early hour. How I was mistaking. The queue that I was standing in was totally still and didn’t move an inch. After two hours the people in the queues begun to get really inpatient and one understood that it begun to become a cries situation. Because, the delegates and speakers for the day couldn’t either enter the Bella Center. After 3,5 hours in the chilly Copenhagen I received my pass and could join with the other delegates.




The consequence of the chaotic situation outside is that he organizers will restrict the possibilities for all NGO members to take part f the COP15 meeting. From Thursday “only” 1000 NGO:s will be able to take part in the meeting and on Friday only 90 people from NGO:s will be allowed to comment the results from the negations.

But even if it’s chaotic one sense that a huge activity are talking pace inside all the closed room but also in the open sessions there were a very high activity. All meetings with the one that are responsible for the negations and the press people together with the NGO:s were cancelled because of the very intense discussions. The temperature raised even more on the afternoon when Al Gore joined the COP15. One really understands that he is or can be a very important player because he is still treated by media as a climate superstar. So even if he not have any legitimate input to influence the COP15 process it seems that he still could have some impact on the outcome of this meeting of the decade.

My evening ended with a session or side event that Business Europe arranged. We could hear a very positive vice Prime Minister Maud Olofsson how Sweden have achieved both a growth in BNP but in the same reduced the carbondioxide emissions. She talked a lot of Eco effiency economy which I think will be a buzz word in the environmental business sector. It was also very interesting to listen to European Commission Deputy Director-General of DG Environment Jos Delbeke. A lot of what he said was very technical but very important if one should understand why we were in Bella Center this evening.


Even if this has been a very cold and long day for me it has also been a day with a lot of impressions what I can do as an environmentalist, technical consultant or a dad, -strive for a green and prosperous planet.
Over and out/ Johan