The UN climate summit starts Monday in the Danish capital of Copenhagen. With catastrophic global warming looming every closer, the two-week meeting has come under close scrutiny from world leaders and policy-makers.

A week before the official start, participants and journalists had begun to arrive in the city. Organizers say they expect about 15 thousand people to turn up for what will be largest meeting that Denmark has ever held. Hotel rooms in Copenhagen were booked out months ago, with some journalists being forced to live in neighboring towns.

The use of limousines and private planes has been criticized, with many seeing it as ironical that a major summit on climate change should generate more than 40 thousand tons of carbon dioxide. That's equal to emissions from a British city with a population of 100 thousand people.

(CCTV December 7, 2009)