Queueing chaos outside Cop26 venue as leaders arrive live

Scenes like this have not been seen at a Cop since the poorly prepared Copenhagen conference in 2009. A crowd of many hundreds, probably at least 2,000 just in the forward bit, gathered at the entrance where there seemed to be no preparation, no attempt to encourage people to queue rather than simply press forward, no pretence at social distancing.

People are packed together closely with no option but to press ahead because of the stream of new people arriving behind. The queue has been moving at a speed of roughly 10 to 15 feet per hour by the estimates of a few people here. There seems little prospect of improvement and at this rate thousands of people will be standing outside for hours.

I stood in a similar queue on Friday. This time, thankfully, it is not raining but they could have had a better plan for queue management. Like many people here I’ve already had a long journey, having left before 8am to get here, so there’s a lot of weariness in the crowd here before we even get started but everyone is still in good spirits and just eager to get in.

It is inexplicable that the Scottish hosts have not managed this better having had nearly two years to prepare. They knew 30,000 people would come.

My colleague Damian Carrington has done a deep dive into almost 40 recent polls on climate from around the world, and found that across the world, the public overwhelmingly back urgent action on the climate crisis.

However, people do not have confidence in their elected representatives that the necessary action will be taken.

climate polling graphic

Read the full piece here:

Once delegates do get in, at least they won’t go thirsty - as long as they like Irn-Bru

It seems the queues for security outside the venue are causing chaos.

Chris McCall of the Daily Record says some delegates are trying to skip the queue:

Chris McCall (@Dennynews)

Huge queues to get in to #COP26. Much grumbling as various delegates attempt to skip to the front of the queue to security.

One UN observer tells me: “This is a problem with COP. Everyone has a business class mentality.” pic.twitter.com/Do4RuHoPPI

November 1, 2021

While Paul Waugh at the i describes the scenes as “utter chaos”:

Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh)

Utter chaos at security for COP26. It's not as if they couldn't plan for this is it? pic.twitter.com/HBI1lMMiEW

November 1, 2021

Our own Phoebe Weston says she queued for an hour before getting in

A dinosaur with a message for Joe Biden poses outside the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art.

Kate Proctor of PoliticsHome (and formerly of the Guardian) has tweeted from the enormous queues to get through security:

Kate Proctor (@Kate_M_Proctor)

It's my own fault for not doing this at 6am or something but long queues for COP26 just to get through security. #COP26 pic.twitter.com/6mBladwoaI

November 1, 2021

She says security staff are going down the line asking people not to take photos, which sounds like a doomed effort.

Travel chaos hampered many delegates and observers’ arrival in Glasgow for Cop26 yesterday, with a tree on the tracks taking out the west coast main line for a large part of the day. Trains on the east coast line were also delayed after overhead wires near Peterborough sustained damage.

Guardian reporters Patrick Greenfield (who ended up having to hire a van from Luton and drive to Glasgow) and Phoebe Weston (who endured a heavily delayed journey up the east coast line) have more details here.

Fortunately trains appear to be running smoothly again this morning.

John Vidal, the former environment editor of the Guardian, has written about the seven stages of a Cop meeting, of which he’s seen his fair share. We are currently in stage one.

1. The arrival. Here we go again. Teams of jet-lagged lobbyists, diplomats, journos, bankers and business folk queue with delegations of indigenous peoples and youth groups, lawyers, NGOs and economists to enter the parallel universe that is a UN climate Cop. Within hours, the complaints will start about the price of coffee, the distance between meeting rooms, the Glaswegian accents, the rain, the trains, the traffic, the UN security, the heavy policing and the dearth of good restaurants.

So far I’ve seen complaints about queues, coffee, rain, trains, traffic and restaurants being booked out, so nearly a full bingo card already.

Read the rest of the piece here:

Protesters in a Scottish pipe band have arrived in Glasgow wearing grotesque masks bearing the likenesses of (from left to right) Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Italy’s Mario Draghi, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Joe Biden of the US; the British PM, Boris Johnson; the German chancellor, Angela Merkel; the Canadian PM, Justin Trudeau; the Indian PM, Narendra Modi; and Xi Jinping of China.

Each of the days of the conference is dedicated to a theme.

Tue 2: forests
Wed 3: finance
Thu 4: energy
Fri 5: youth and public empowerment
Sat 6: nature
Mon 8: adaptation, loss and damage
Tue 9: gender, science and innovation
Wed 10: transport
Thu 11: cities, regions and the built environment

Then negotiations are scheduled to end at 6pm on Friday 12 November - but in practice at the vast majority of previous Cops negotiations have overrun into Saturday and even Sunday.

It’s not often an environment story makes the front of almost all the papers, but all the UK’s main national titles have run Cop26 stories on their front pages with the exception of the Sun and the Star, who have gone with Simon Cowell deciding not to host a TV show and a forecast of bad weather later in the week respectively.

My colleague Fiona Harvey, who has been to more Cops than almost any other journalist in the world, has written about her optimism before Cop26:

In my years reporting on this issue, I’ve seen so many triumphs and disasters. The bottom line on our struggle against climate catastrophe is this: we don’t have a choice but to win, and we absolutely can.

There was a time when it seemed impossible to solve the problem of acid rain, but we did. It’s true that greater challenges lie ahead, and they will require action from the whole global economy, but we have the technology and the ingenuity.

I have no time for people who say this is too expensive â€" if we don’t have a planet then we don’t have an economy. So solving these problems is a question of “how”, not “if”.

Read more here:

World leaders are beginning to arrive at the SEC, where they are being greeted by the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson.

Many were disappointed when it was confirmed that the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, would not attend in person, as although he has not left China since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic some feared it might signal a lack of ambition from China.

Although it had been rumoured over the weekend that he would join the conference by video, it has been confirmed that instead a written statement will be uploaded on the conference website this afternoon.

You can see the full list of speakers for today’s session here.

There is a sense of occasion in Glasgow this morning. While walking to the convention centre on the banks of the river Clyde, it felt like I was on the way to a major concert or football cup final. Climate negotiators, scientists, business people, NGO staff and journalists were making their way through the city to the impressive security operation at the SEC centre. Everyone has to show proof of a negative lateral flow test, ID and an invitation letter.

Today is all about the world leaders’ announcements. We will be bringing you updates throughout the day and interesting bits from the convention centre.

Patrick Greenfield (@pgreenfielduk)

A lovely autumn morning in Glasgow. #COP26 pic.twitter.com/7H4Io7Jv6n

November 1, 2021

Welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Cop26 climate conference. Each day we will bring you the latest news from the negotiations in Glasgow, as well as updates and reaction from around the globe.

Delegates and world leaders have been arriving in Scotland over the weekend ahead of the official opening ceremony at noon GMT today.

Here’s a timetable of what to expect today:

From 8am: heads of state arrive at conference “blue zone”
12 noon: opening ceremony for world leaders summit
1.30pm: the Cop26 president, Alok Sharma of the UK, will welcome delegates to the high-level segment of the conference
1.45pm: national leaders give brief statements, with more to follow tomorrow. Big names on Monday include Emmanuel Macron of France, Joko Widodo of Indonesia, Ursula von der Leyen of the EU, Angela Merkel of Germany, Scott Morrison of Australia and Mario Draghi of Italy. A full list of speakers can be found here.
5pm: leaders visit Kelvingrove art gallery for a reception

I’m Alan Evans, and you can email me at alan.evans@theguardian.com, or send me a message on Twitter at @itsalanevans.

Share this post