Closing time: Climate diplomats decide wording and the world
ABC News
Thump, thump, thump
GLASGOW, Scotland -- Thump, thump, thump. In the frantic last hours of U.N. climate talks in Scotland, a senior diplomat from Luxembourg came sprinting down a hallway inside the summit venue, his hair flying as he whooshed by clutching a sheaf of papers, only to vanish inside an office as abruptly as he appeared.
The final stretch of negotiations over what nearly 200 governments will do next about fossil fuels heating the Earth to disastrous levels was like that Friday: country delegations haggling to get as much of their stand as possible, ambitious or stingy, into the final deal that will emerge at the talks close.
U.S. diplomats mostly worked behind closed doors in the closing hours, with terse signs on the glass. In most other country offices – South Korea, Ivory Coast, Austria, and others – open doors showed rooms full of diplomats bent intently over their laptops, eyes fixed on their screen and fingers flying over the keyboard.
Chinese diplomats crowded into one of their offices — with multiple red Chinese flags draped on the walls outside -- stopped, laughed and took photos when a wayward robin hopped in among them, lost in the warren of temporary tents and event center.
