Bad COP - UNFCCC accreditation process (COP 15)

14 Dec 2009 – Gary Kendall

We’ve just been blown out by Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC who was scheduled to brief several hundred non-governmental observers at 11:45 this morning. After waiting around for half an hour, a rumour spread quickly that the G77 – the developing country negotiating bloc – had dramatically walked out of negotiations on the Kyoto “track” (more on the terminology of this COP later!).

In lieu of a progress report from the UN’s climate chief, the assembled delegates were treated to an altogether different revelation. I mentioned in an earlier blog entry that this COP has – predictably, given its special significance – been massively oversubscribed. But rather than place strict limits on the number of delegates accredited, the organisers apparently crossed their fingers and hoped that the law of averages would save the day, i.e. that comings and goings throughout the fortnight would see to it that the Bella Center’s capacity limits would not be tested. Today the chickens came home to roost in quite stunning fashion.

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, there will be a “secondary pass” system, in which all heads of delegation will distribute rationed access privileges to COP 15’s main event. Geoff and I received our accreditation through Oxford University – Geoff’s position as a research fellow at the University made this possible – whose delegation numbers around 100. (If that sounds impressive, consider that the Brazilian contingent is almost 600!) Yesterday we learned that our number will be limited from Tuesday to just 25 through the secondary pass system.

Today’s bombshell was that on Thursday the non-governmental delegates – totalling an estimated 25,000 individuals – will be restricted by a “tertiary pass” system. How many tertiary passes? One thousand. It’s currently anyone’s guess how these will be allocated among the hundreds of interest groups represented here.

Worse still, on Friday the UNFCCC will implement a “quaternary pass” system that will grant entry to – I’m not making this up – NINETY non-governmental Observers! That’s less than half of one percent, meaning that 24,910 accredited UNFCCC delegates will be locked out of the Bella Center on Friday! Note that in COP vernacular, “non-governmental” does not mean “rabble-rousing activists and tree-huggers”. It includes esteemed research scientists, CEOs of the world’s largest companies, local authorities, trade unions, farmers groups, indigenous peoples, and – of course – a great many non-profit civil society organisations.

In a philosophical mood, I reflect that this is the price to pay for having some 110 Heads of State arriving in Copenhagen to deliver a fully inclusive, comprehensive, effective, binding political agreement to keep the world below 2°C of global warming. So I pray that the rumour currently circulating among anxious delegates – that President Obama is set to cancel his appearance at this conference – turns out to be nothing but hot air. I can only imagine how 24,910 COP 15 delegates will choose to entertain themselves in a freezing Copenhagen if the Heads of State fail to deliver the goods on Friday.

There may be trouble ahead.