Tivoli Gardens, Registration Madness

Met up with my delegation and it is a great crew: Senator Fran Pavley, California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols, Director of The Climate Registry Diane Wittenberg, Head of the Department of Environment for State of NY Pete Grannis, and many more.

Off to Tivoli Garden for delegation dinner. Eileen Tutt, soon to be with California's Electric Transportation Coalition, convinces me to buy a Danish made furry hat. I look like a wookie but my head and ears are warm as the temperature has dropped to about 30 degrees.

Over 40,000 people have come to Copenhagen for this meeting. About 30,000 are credentialed, meaning technically eligible to get into Bella Center. Problem is max capacity is 15,000. Fire marshall is being firm, causing thousands of attendees to be turned away from entering the center.

The highest level of delegates are national government representatives who are part of their country's negotiating team. They are always let in. The rest of us delegates fall into lots of categories: subnational government, local government, and NGOs or everybody who is not government. We're all on the same tier and must scramble to get in.

Making matters worse today, the computers at the registration desk crashed leaving all of us who needed to get our access badges stranded. Delegates were lined up for 3 city blocks and waited 4 to 6 hours. Perusing the line, I saw Fred Krupp from Environmental Defense, some of the Mayors from ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability and many others. Ah bureaucratic processes, the great equalizer!

Opted not to stand in the cold and headed off to events on electric vehicles, halting forest deforestation, and other topics going on in venues outside of Bella Center.

Sitting now with my friend Nicky Gavron, former Deputy Mayor of London, who is now actively involved in bringing EVs to London.