Geneva Hotels Fill as Climate Delegates and UN Staff Overlap

GENEVA - Hotels between the Rhone and the Palais des Nations reported near-full books for the second week of September as UN climate finance talks overlapped with the ordinary international calendar. City authorities added tram runs on the Cornavin to Nations corridor. Restaurant staff in Paquis said the lunch rush started earlier and ended later.

For residents the inconvenience is familiar: blocked lanes, flags on lamp posts, and security fences that appear overnight. For the canton it is also an industry. International Geneva supports tens of thousands of jobs, from interpreters to catering. A week like this is the pitch the tourist office cannot buy.

Talks with a local echo

Delegates arriving for the loss and damage meetings will hear Swiss officials talk about measurable grants, the same language Bern is using on cantons in the domestic climate framework. Whether that impresses island states is another matter.

Police said they expected peaceful climate demonstrations midweek. Shopkeepers on Rue de Lausanne asked, not for the first time, that protest routes stay off the tram tracks.