I didn’t break it; I promise

I’ve just arrived in Copenhagen for the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, found my hotel, turned on the TV and the COP15 Climate Talks are stalled. The G-77 nations have walked out of the negotiations. I promise, I never touched anything, didn’t even talk to anyone yet…so I don’t think it was me. Apparently, they are demanding more financial support from the richer nations.

I haven’t been over to the Bella Center yet, where the talks are actually happening, but the circus surrounding the talks started in the SAS plane at London’s Heathrow airport. The in-flight magazine had numerous articles about the talks, including advertorial supplements from companies and regions (Skane, in southern Sweden) promoting their environmental credentials, and the pilot actually discussed the relative efficiency of the plane’s engines during his welcome aboard speech!

The Kastrup airport is a veritable hub of green information and services. Pretty much every advert (displayed in energy-efficient units) on the walls of airport was about green energy, green technology, green places, green people. OK, not green people. There was a delightfully awkward Accenture ad featuring Tiger Woods and the caption “His next move may his most important,” – that may prove to be the most accurate of all.

More important than the window-dressing – the fact that you can quickly,easily and cheaply get a train to the center of town; walk easily to many of the major hotels; and in mine, rent a bike for just a few bucks a day. Hopefully that’s the sort of message and memory people will take back from Copenhagen.

Time to get stuck in.