Hopes of a global deal to bring down greenhouse gases were dashed as the biggest emitters, the US and China, refused to sign up to legally-binding targets.

Since then, things have been fairly quiet. The annual ‘Climate Camp’ in Edinburgh targeted the banking sector and led to a few arrests, while a flurry of protests against BP hit the headlines in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon Disaster.

It is only now that the various factions have had time to re-group and develop a ‘post-Copenhagen’ strategy.

The general theory seems to be that it was a mistake to focus on Copenhagen as a goal in itself. Instead activists are looking at the much slower and more arduous process of changing minds and lifestyles in the long term. This has meant going back to the grassroots and working with local groups to lobby regional government and business.