What Hath Copenhagen Wrought? A Preliminary Assessment

After years of preparation, the Fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP-15) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) commenced on December 7, 2009, in Copenhagen, Denmark, and adjourned some two weeks later on December 19, after a raucous all-night session. During the last 24 hours of the conference, a small group of leading heads of state and government negotiated directly, to a degree unprecedented in recent history.