Greta Thunberg has arrived in Scotland for the Cop26 summit, as world leaders prepare to discuss the climate crisis.
The Swedish activist arrived at Glasgow Central station on Saturday evening on a train from London Euston.
It comes after hundreds of activists and European politicians descended on the city on a specially chartered climate train ahead of the summit – widely seen as one of the last chances to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of the environmental emergency.
Greta was surrounded by police and other activists after leaving the train, having taken part in a demonstration in London on Friday.
The teenager is expected to take part in more protests during the 10-day conference, which formally begins on Sunday before a summit of 120 dignitaries and heads of state the following day.
There will be a march through Glasgow on November 5, organised by Fridays for Future Scotland – the Scottish branch of the movement inspired by Greta’s campaigning.
However, the 18-year-old has said her formal participation in the summit itself is uncertain.
She has been interviewed for the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, which airs on Sunday morning.
In a preview, Mr Marr asked Greta if she had been invited to Cop26, and she responded: ‘I don’t know. It’s very unclear. Not officially.
‘I think that many people might be scared that if they invite too many radical young people, then that might make them look bad.’
Meanwhile, around 300 climate activists and 170 others arrived on the Rail to the Cop train on Saturday evening.
Their train had travelled through the Netherlands and Belgium before linking up with the Avanti West Coast train to Glasgow.
Some had travelled from as far afield as Poland and Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean.
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.’
It comes after the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, cut taxes on flights within the UK in this week’s budget.
The activists on board the train were joined by ambassadors, MEPs and delegations from the governments of the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Germany.
In a speech on board, Joao Vale de Almeida, the EU’s ambassador to the UK, said the fight against climate change is a common ground between Brussels and London.
Raffaele Trombetta, the UK ambassador for Italy, which is co-hosting the conference, said: ‘Glasgow is going to be one of the key moments in the history of our two countries, and the history of humanity.’
Avanti West Coast managing director Phil Whittingham added: ‘By uniting with operators across the continent, the climate train’s journey illustrates the ease of travelling between countries, providing customers with a sustainable alternative.’
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