By Joydeep Gupta
Copenhagen, Dec 19 (IANS) A cold wind broke up the clouds over the Danish capital Saturday morning, but thousands of bleary-eyed bureaucrats were in no mood to enjoy the weather after three days of snow flurries. They packed and closed down their delegation offices, even as they blamed everyone else for the imminent failure of the climate summit.

The final plenary session remained adjourned as the delegates milled around the plenary hall named after Danish scientist Tycho Brahe. But science, which had told them to take far stronger action to fight climate change than they were prepared to take, was the last thing on their minds.

They were worried about catching their flights and missing the rest of the plenary session at Bella Centre - the conference venue - if they left. They were more worried about what their prime ministers and presidents would tell them when they reported the failure of the summit once billed as a panacea to the world’s woes.

This was one worry the Indian bureaucrats did not have. They knew that India - with the US, China, South Africa and Brazil - had tried to salvage something out of the summit, though everyone understood that the accord they had drafted was very weak indeed. The compulsions of compromise had ensured that.

“We, at least, are leaving with a clear conscience,” a foreign ministry official told IANS as 14 members of the Indian delegation left to catch their flights. Senior delegates stayed back to see what they could salvage from the summit. Their aides scurried to change airline tickets.

The Danish hosts, who had been caught off guard so many times during the Dec 7-18 summit, appeared unprepared for the unannounced extension, at least into the next morning. Few of the cleaners showed up, and overflowing garbage bins around Bella Centre remained evidence of how many delegates, observers and journalists had spent the night there.

Many of those who waited for the bitter end went hungry too, as only one of the food stalls in the complex had opened by mid-morning. Some trudged a kilometre through snow and slush to the nearest seven-eleven in search of a sandwich.