Cop26: All the celebrities spotted in Glasgow for the climate summit

Leonardo DiCaprio, Greta Thunberg and William and Kate among famous faces in town for pivotal environmental conference

The Cop26 climate summit is up and running in Glasgow and world leaders are off to a good start after agreeing major commitments on curtailing deforestation and methane emissions.

The pledges made so far are already on course to keep the global temperature rise below 2C by the century’s end, according to the analysts, but more still needs to be done if the terms of the 2015 Paris accord are to be honoured and catastrophe averted.

The locals have had to make plenty of sacrifices to accommodate the 12-day event, which has seen hundreds of delegates, diplomats and campaigners descend on their fair city to demand meaningful action to avert the existential threat of the environmental crisis.

But they have been rewarded with some truly surreal spectacles already, from the unlikely prospect of US president Joe Biden’s security detail taking themselves off to the chippy for a fish supper to Greta Thunberg swearing in the park.

Here’s a quick overview of the A-listers they might run into sinking a wee dram in a darkened corner of the local watering hole.

Leonardo DiCaprio

The Hollywood actor, known for his roles in Titanic, Inception, The Wolf of Wall Street and The Revenant, is a passionate environmentalist and was widely expected to make an appearance in the hope of persuading the likes of Boris Johnson, Narendra Modi and Jair Bolsonaro to agree a landmark deal to safeguard the future of the planet.

He duly did so, turning up at The Engine Works on Lochburn Road in Maryhill on Monday evening, drawing a stunned response from Glaswegian drinkers.

Greta Thunberg

A less surprising attendee but surely the guest who has most whole-heartedly entered into the spirit of the thing, the Swedish teenager arrived to a heroine’s welcome at Glasgow Central on Saturday.

Greta in Glasgow (PA)

She has only endeared herself all the more by meeting with fellow activists in Govan’s Festival Park to deride the politicians and chant: “You can stick your climate crisis up your arse!”

Sir David Attenborough

The revered BBC documentarian and naturalist, 95, was a speaker on the opening day of Cop26 and urged his audience of visiting dignitaries to turn “tragedy into triumph”.

“In my lifetime, I’ve witnessed a terrible decline. In yours, you should witness a wonderful recovery,” he said.

The veteran was rewarded for his efforts by Mr Johnson sitting next to him without bothering to wear a Covid face mask, therein thoughtlessly endangering the life of one Britain’s greatest national treasures.

Maisie Williams

A more fitting tribute to Sir David came from The Game of Thrones actress, who introduced his latest film The Green Planet at the conference.

“It was watching Sir David Attenborough that sparked my passion for the environment,” she said.

“His films showed me the complex webs of our ecosystem. How extraordinary life on Earth is, and yet, how fragile.”

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

Like Greta, William and Kate arrived by train into Glasgow Central, moving from there on Monday afternoon to an event at the Clydeside Distillery in Dennistoun.

Prince William grimaces as his wife offers him a cup of dead larvae at Cop26 (Getty)

The prince, as keen an environmentalist as his late grandfather and father, recently launched the Earthshot prize with Sir David and will be taking on additional duties from his grandmother, the Queen having been advised to sit out the summit on medical grounds by her doctors.

Ellie Goulding

The British pop star, a UN Foundation goodwill ambassador, is known for her activism on behalf of the environment and chose her appearance at Cop26 to share a rare photo of her infant son Arthur on Instagram, writing: “Our future generations shouldn’t have to inherit a broken planet because we didn’t take the opportunity to fix it when we could! LETS GO!!!”

Idris Elba

The star of The Wire and Luther appeared alongside his wife Sabrina in their roles as ambassadors to the International Fund for Agricultural Development to warn that climate change is hitting the world’s food supplies and to say that African countries, on the frontline of the crisis, must be be part of the solution.

Matt Damon

Another Hollywood star, who appeared alongside DiCaprio in The Departed as it happens, Damon will not actually appear at the event in person but will call in via Zoom instead, according to The Glasgow Times, to play his part in a New York Times fringe discussion on sanitation and access to clean water.

Other celebrities like Mark Ruffalo, Russell Crowe and Stephen Fry have made clear their support for Cop26 initiatives on social media but are not attending - and, ultimately, perhaps not clocking up a whacking carbon footprint through needless air travel is the truly eco thing to do.

Nathan Evans

You know, the “Wellerman” guy! Shanty Tok? It was only six months ago!

Anyway, the Lanarkshire folk singer is taking part in a charity football match to coincide with the summit, according to The Daily Record.