COP26: World leaders start arriving for next week's conference

US President Joe Biden and his wife, US First Lady Jill Biden, have arrived in Europe ahead of next week's summit

World leaders have started arriving in Europe ahead of the climate change conference COP26, which begins in the Scottish city of Glasgow on 31 October and will run for two weeks, finishing on 12 November.

The summit is a global United Nations event, where world leaders will meet to discuss how to tackle important issues surrounding climate change.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will urge leaders of the world's biggest economies to make good on their promises to cut carbon emissions, which damage the environment.

More than 100 world leaders are due to arrive in Glasgow over the next couple of days - but which ones? Here's all we know so far...

US President Joe Biden (L) and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (R) will both be attending COP26 in Glasgow

Which leaders will be there?

British prime minister Boris Johnson and Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon will be attending, alongside other European leaders including French president Emmanuel Macron and the prime minister of Italy, Mario Draghi.

Italy is co-hosting the event with the UK, which means Italian leaders will help push important issues and lead debates, but it is being held exclusively in Glasgow.

COP26 will be the last climate change summit for German president Angela Merkel who is stepping down as German leader after 16 years in office.

The UN’s most important climate official Patricia Espinosa (L) has already met with Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon (R) in Glasgow ahead of the start of COP26

US President Joe Biden and his climate special envoy John Kerry will also be in attendance.

Mr Biden landed in Rome early on Friday for a summit where he plans to meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican, before starting his journey to Scotland.

Pope Francis has called on world leaders meeting next week to provide "effective responses" to the environment emergency and offer "concrete hope" to future generations.

Over 100 leaders will attend the historic event

Australia's prime minister Scott Morrison will also be at the summit and said he was "looking forward to attending" the "important event."

Australia has pledged to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 but controversially has said it will also not set ambitious targets for 2030 - an important aim of the global climate summit.

Australia has some of the highest carbon emissions per head of population and is a massive global exporter of fossil fuels.

Leaders from some African nations will also be part of the historic event, including President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria and Ghana's president, Nana Akufo-Addo.

Two of the biggest names in climate change activism, Sir David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg, will both be at COP26

Who else will be there?

Many other people are also expected to attend, including representatives from environmental groups, journalists and other officials.

The Queen will not attend the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow after medical advice to rest following her overnight stay in hospital last week, but Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will be there.

Naturalist Sir David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg have also said they will attend.

Sir David has said it's essential that we act now on climate change.

"Every day that goes by in which we don't do something about it is a day wasted," he said.

Greta is expected to join climate activists protesting in the City of London on Friday, before travelling to Glasgow for the summit.

The presidents of China, Russia and Brazil are not expected to come to Glasgow for COP26

Who is not attending?

Leaders of three countries, among the biggest polluters in the world, have said they are unable to attend.

Russian president Vladimir Putin recently announced plans to be net zero by 2060, but a Kremlin spokesman said that President Putin would not attend the conference in person but would participate in it via video link instead.

The Russian government has said climate change is an "important" priority for Russia.

China's president Xi Jinping and Jair Bolsonaro from Brazil are also not expected to attend.