The final week of the climate negotiations in the lead up to the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December 2009, ended in Barcelona on November 6 with a deep sense of foreboding. Shakespearean allusions flew thick and fast, with one delegate ending the closing meeting on the fearful note that 'something rotten awaits us in the State of Denmark.' The author argues that the Bangkok and Barcelona negotiations Ministerial Declarations demonstrated that the international climate negotiations have yet to reach the level of maturity required for states to adopt a legally binding instrument. Disappointing as this may be, an analysis of provisions and instruments that are not legally binding in the formal sense, in their operational significance offer promise in the interim, that the international community could, with due diligence, at least avoid 'something rotten” in the State of Denmark.'