The Cop26 climate summit has been predictable in many ways.

As expected, world leaders gravely explained the scale of the climate crisis before promising a host of new schemes to save the world, which activists and experts duly told us did not go far enough.

Right on cue, billionaires piled in to reveal that yes, we do need to reduce our emissions – shortly after arriving in Glasgow by private jet.

Boris Johnson made similarly dire warnings and then flew out on, yep, another private plane, not long after his Chancellor reduced the cost of domestic flights around the tiny island he governs.

In less baffling – but equally predictable – fashion, Sir David Attenborough arrived to give an inspiring speech, before the world’s biggest polluters were once again accused of failing to take the problem seriously.

Greta Thunberg demonstrated and yes, we have heard it all before.

And yet, there were some unpredictable blunders to keep us on our toes – and even some signs that this conference might even be making environmental progress, shock horror.  

So, in case you missed some of the more light-hearted moments from this most serious of conferences, we’ve rounded up the quirkiest, funniest and silliest antics so far.

Biden has a quick snooze

In a perhaps ominous metaphor for how much attention world leaders are paying to the environmental emergency, the most powerful man on earth appeared to nod off during a speech on global warming.

US President Joe Biden shut his eyes on Monday afternoon, much to everyone’s amusement. That private jet lag and obscenely-large motorcade transport can take it out of all of us sometimes, ey Joe.

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a webbrowser thatsupports HTML5video

Gaffe rating: 4/5, not a good look, but we’ve all been there.

Charles takes an untimely trip

With the world watching, Prince Charles had a little stumble on the way to the podium for a predictably serious speech.

Unlike the rest of us, the heir to the throne calmly pretended not to be surprised by his untimely fall, rescuing the worst of it and carrying on as if nothing had happened. Admirable poise to avert a major slip up.

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a webbrowser thatsupports HTML5video

Gaffe rating: 1/5, No one likes a trip, but do send us a postcard next time.  

At least the Zimbabweans are having fun

As the world burns, two suited, booted and beautifully-scarfed Zimbabweans piled out of Costco with trolley-loads of booze.

Somewhere in the region of a dozen bottles of whisky, several crates of lager, gallons of wine and a case of champagne were the order of the day. Perhaps not the ideal way to prepare for the end of the world, but commiseration points for looking stylish and happy while doing it.

‘Cop26 we are ready’, one explained. Well, nothing else has worked to sort out this mess, so maybe some global drinking can get everyone warmed up.  

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a webbrowser thatsupports HTML5video

Gaffe rating: 1/5, at least someone is enjoying the apocalypse, but maybe stay sober for this bit.

Queueing really flies by

As the Government prepared to impress world leaders with its slick conference, delegates were busy panicking about how an earth to actually get there.

Predictably, our expensive train network was a shambles, so instead people opted for the cheaper option of, er, flying. ‘Never mind about all that green transport stuff’, the climate change delegates presumably thought, as they landed just in time.

But they hadn’t bargained for being greeted with another British special on arrival: huge queues in the cold. Slick indeed.

Gaffe rating: 3/5, welcome to Britain.  

Glasgow summit for one

‘I’m now reporting from Edinburgh in Scotland where 20,000 world leaders and delegates have gathered for the COP26 Climate Summit’, CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer smugly told his followers on Twitter.

Complete with a picture of himself in the Scottish city, Wolf was seen confidently sat in a covered outdoor studio with two (unsurprisingly) empty seats and a pile of notes.

Unfortunately, neither he nor, it would seem, any of the staff helping him set up and prepare for the summit had noticed that 20,000 world leaders were not in Edinburgh, but Glasgow.

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a webbrowser thatsupports HTML5video

That came after bin collectors in Glasgow felt they were left with no choice but to go on strike, following a pay dispute.

The move means rubbish could pile up around the city, threatening to make for an unsightly irony as leaders of the world attempt to clean up their act on the environment.  

In similarly rubbish reading of the room, organisers of Cop managed to offer delegates a huge number of meat, fish and dairy options to eat.

With experts agreed that animal products are hugely damaging to the environment, such a glaring food blunder really should have been off the menu.  

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Source: Read Full Article