The COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, UK, starting 31 October, has been billed as a “turning point for humanity“, as the world wrestles to get climate change under control. Some big names will be in attendance at the two-week summit, and 51¶ŻÂţ has put together a guide on who to look out for.
Alok Sharma, COP26 president
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The man tasked with shepherding an ambitious consensus from the 197 parties meeting at COP26. Dubbed “no drama Sharma” by some, he is more technocrat than radical environmentalist. “I’m a normal person, right, I’m not someone who’s some great climate warrior coming into this,” he told 51¶ŻÂţ recently.
He may not be flashy, but he is across the detail of the key issues at stake in Glasgow and acutely aware of potential sensitive topics, such as trust between richer and poorer countries. Sharma is respected and has built relationships with governments around the world by travelling to meet officials and heads of state, including Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India and a key player at the summit.
Before taking the reins five years ago at the UN agency charged with coordinating global action on climate change, Espinosa was a diplomat and the former foreign minister of Mexico. Her job is to work in tandem with Sharma to forge a strong outcome at COP26. Her style is to be circumspect but upbeat. “One thing we cannot do is give up,” she told 51¶ŻÂţ after a new analysis showed countries were wildly off track one of the Paris Agreement’s key temperature goals.
The Swedish climate campaigner hasn’t officially confirmed whether she will attend the summit, but whether she is there in person or tweeting her views remotely, her presence will be felt. She expects Glasgow to just be from leaders – words but no action – and for
She is calling on people in civil society, who will be present in force at COP26, to keep the pressure up. The summit’s outcome will almost certainly fall short of , as it won’t deliver promises of emissions cuts needed to avoid catastrophic warming.
US president Joe Biden’s right-hand man on climate, and a veteran of the summits that came before COP26, Kerry has forged a strong partnership with Sharma. He will be both a prominent public voice at the conference and an important player in private, urging other countries to reach a bold agreement.
As well as knowing the key personnel and issues inside out, he has a knack for personal, emotive measures, .
The famously tough top climate negotiator for the world’s biggest carbon emitter stepped down from his role , only to be .
Xie and Kerry are known to have a good relationship, which may help at a time when US-China relations are strained on trade, human rights and the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. The Chinese government that those other tensions risk the “oasis” of climate cooperation becoming “desertified”.
Prince William, Prince Charles and David Attenborough
UK royalty and naturalist David Attenborough (pictured in bottom row of main image above), a friend of the royal family and COP26’s “people’s advocate”, will bring some colour to the opening of the summit in Glasgow. Attenborough doesn’t just have a gift for rhetoric and delivery, but is also closely across the detail on climate change.
The Queen, who was originally planning to attend the conference, will not attend .
Climate change is “here with us now in Grenada”, , who represents not just Grenada but works with a wider alliance of countries seeking a strong outcome at COP26, known as the High Ambition Coalition.
He has also spoken for the Alliance of Small Island States, a group of countries threatened by rising sea levels. Stiell was recently appointed by Sharma to hold consultations on how the Glasgow summit keeps the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C climate target “within reach” – in other words, how to make the outcome ambitious.
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