Summit’s up: The meeting at the end of the world

What are the chances that COP26 turns into a shambles?

It looks on the cards, you’d have to say.

Already the organisers of the climate summit – the last chance to save the world in some eyes — have had to deny claims the whole thing is mismanaged, with delayed decisions and poor communication blamed on “very inexperienced” civil servants.

That was after a letter to ministers reportedly organised by Sky and signed by others key sponsors including NatWest and SSE complained about the communications, about the logistics and about the access to hotels.

The biggest frustration of the sponsors is a lack of simple information.

Sponsors slagging you off before you’ve even started isn’t too great, and the media coverage of the event must also be in doubt.

One editor tells me: “I don’t know anyone who is sure of what they are doing around the event now because the whole schedule seems so fluid.”

The chance of top leaders following Xi Jinping and deciding not to show up must be increasing.

Which means the main story might be the PR around the summit rather than the impending death of the planet.

This is how the world ends: in a public relations disaster.

If you click the Media Enquiries button on the COP website, you get directed to a cabinet office email.

So far as I can see there isn’t a phone number for hacks to ring – I always think that’s a really bad sign. It means no one is accountable, or if they are, they are trying hard not to be.

A top PR agency to the rescue, perhaps.