copENHAGEN

I was a late inclusion in our official delegation to the world climate conference earlier this month. Three days of mayhem - although my experience was not a patch on that of friends who work at NGOs who were desperately trying to influence negotiations and find out, amid 30,000 delegates worth of rumour and speculation, what the devil was going on.

For my part, I got to enjoy being not one of the important people: my job was to attend seminars on shipping emissions, and renewable energy, and other geeky topics, and to support the launch of the UN-wide first ever carbon footprint.

In between times, I managed to take in a wind energy industry cocktail party in an 18thC Danish palace (complete with anti-Vestas protesters), got escorted through the picket lines on the big day of protest, and generally felt weird being on the "UN observer, right this way please ma'am" side of the fence, instead of being on the "loud but outta the loop" faction.

I also caught up with my Danish chum Astrid, who was an intern with us over the summer and one of my 'new in Rome' chums. And she instantly endeared me to our Copenhagen office by offering me a bed, saving them hours on the phone trying to find a non-existent hotel room. (And no wonder - turns out that although the conference centre only holds 15,000, the COP organisers took more than 30,000 registrations. Getting in was a nightmare for thousands of people... but not me, and that felt VERY weird). Anyway, Astrid welcomed me with a dinner of christmas sausage, rye bread, and creamed cabbage (do nøt laugh, it's the best cabbage dish ever, by far) a bottle of red and endless catchup chatter.

And Copenhagen was properly cold - snowing even - which just emphasised that Copenhagen is a city built for enjoying life. The streets are wide and clean and even, cyclists have dedicated lanes on every major road, as do buses. And why not - 40% of people cycle to work, even in winter. The metro is clean, quiet, reliable and even attractive, somehow making the trip home uplifting rather than exhausting. It's the very model of a well planned city and no wonder Scandies are the envy of the developed world!

All the experience, networking and good times aside, the non-result of the COP after two weeks of negotiations was disappointing. I got more out of my 3 days of workshops than the world got from that fortnight. What a cop-out.