The Guardian feels there is a 50-50 chance there will be a binding deal signed on Friday in Copenhagen.  Temperaments and anxiety levels of diplomats and entire countries were analyzed.

Brown and Clinton yuk it up in Copenhagen

“So, deal or no deal? As 120 presidents and prime ministers sat down to eat at the Queen of Denmark’s palace in Copenhagen tonight, the chances of both appeared equally high. Or low.

Depending on your temperament, within 24 hours or so, the world will have a climate change agreement that should limit carbon emissions and restrict temperatures to a 2C rise; or the talks will fall apart and the chance of an agreement will be lost for ever.

Gordon Brown was upbeat, while the usually chipper climate secretary, Ed Miliband, was distinctly cooler. The Bangladeshi negotiators were optimistic, the Maldivians were anxious; China was saying nothing, and Poland was resisting the EU’s plans to increase its offer of emission cuts to 30%. Then European MEPs rode in to declare that the EU offer should be raised to 40% cuts.

Meanwhile, some people are anxiously and cautiously optimistic. Here is another person who sees a ray of light, the representative from the WWF. Just 24 hours to go and WWF’s Head of Delegation Kim Carstensen is feeling more optimistic than he did a day ago. (video after the break)

He feels we have all been removed from the Valley of Death. That’s quite a statement, and some of that removal was due to Hillary Clinton. After her statement (see post below this for video) that included a possible promise of $100 billion in 2020 for the world’s poor countries (contingent upon open and verifiable emissions cuts in other countries), China also moved a bit, which was good news. Friday is the last day of the summit, and there will either be a deal or not, but the world will go on turning either way.

Then maybe we can all work on eco-socialism instead of moving money around from rich to poor countries, who should not have to beg for this help. The poor countries are as firmly attached to the planet and under the same dome of our polluted atmosphere as the rich countries. We all have an equal stake in fixing the climate, we all breath the same air, and this is why ’smoking sections’ in restaurants never worked.

More good Copenhagen videos here.