ABSTRACT
Standing for several hours in sub-zero temperatures in the snow surrounded by riot police can be a sobering experience at the best of times. Journalists are no strangers to chaotic scenes – or queuing for that matter – but when the author realized that members of the negotiating delegations attending the December 2009 Copenhagen climate talks were standing behind me in the same crowd the author started to realise something had gone quite wrong with the organisation of the talks. Leading up to Copenhagen, it is quite optimistic. It was during Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's speech in the first week of Copenhagen that made us realise that the Obama administration was not on board and that the Danish Presidency of the COP had not been able to reconcile the positions. Well before Copenhagen, the effects of the 'sub-prime' financial crisis that hit the world headlines with the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, were making themselves felt.
