Greta Thunberg arrives in Glasgow for Cop26 summit

Greta Thunberg arrives in Glasgow for Cop26 summit
31 greta final
Samantha Haynes

By Samantha Haynes


Published: 30/10/2021

- 19:10

Updated: 30/10/2021

- 19:28

The Swedish activist appears at Glasgow station for climate conference, despite not being formally invited

Greta Thunberg has arrived in Glasgow ahead of the Cop26 summit, as world leaders prepare to discuss the climate crisis.

The Swedish activist arrived at Glasgow Central station on Saturday evening, having taken a train from London Euston.


After leaving the train, she was surrounded by police and other activists as she made her way around the station.

The international conference begins formally on Sunday, with a summit of 120 dignitaries and heads of state starting the following day.

Ms Thunberg travelled to Scotland after she took part in a demonstration outside a bank in London on Friday.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg arrives at Glasgow Central train station ahead of the Cop26 summit which is taking place from Monday. Picture date: Saturday October 30, 2021.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg arrives at Glasgow Central train station ahead of the Cop26 summit which is taking place from Monday. Picture date: Saturday October 30, 2021.
Jane Barlow

She was mobbed by other climate change activists at the protest outside the Standard Chartered headquarters, as they lobbied against the global financial system supporting the use of fossil fuels.

Ms Thunberg is expected to take part in other demonstrations during the two-week summit in Glasgow.

There will be a march through the city on November 5, organised by Fridays for Future Scotland – the Scottish branch of the movement inspired by her activism.

She is also expected to speak at a rally taking place on Saturday hosted by the Cop26 Coalition.

However, Ms Thunberg has said her formal participation in the summit itself is uncertain.

Lukas Kiefer, 25, a student from Germany who helped organise the journey, said the train companies the activists collaborated with think in a very different way to activists.

“But, at the same time we all agree that train mobility is the future of mobility for a huge amount of people, if it’s cheap and if it’s feasible for everyone,” he said.

“So I would say that one big demand from us is that subsidies don’t go into the aviation industry. For example, in Europe 43% of all airports need subsidies from the government because otherwise they could not run because they’re just too expensive.

“For us these subsidies need to go into the train tracks so that people can travel cheap on fast trains all over Europe, because that’s the only way to deal with the emissions of the aviation industry.”

The activists were joined by ambassadors, MEPs and delegations from the governments of the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Germany.

The climate train was initiated by Youth for Sustainable Travel, a non-profit, and Dutch rail infrastructure manager ProRail.

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