GLASGOW, Scotland -- Greta Thunberg may not have been officially invited to the United Nations' landmark climate summit in Glasgow, but on the first day of the conference, she was making her presence known.
The Swedish teenager, who is something of a rock star for climate activists around the world, is among the thousands of activists who are descending on Glasgow for the U.N. Climate Change Conference, also coined as COP26. They are calling on world leaders to take bold action to prevent global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.
Speaking to the BBC's Andrew Marr in an interview aired on Sunday, Thunberg said the 1.5 Celsius goal was "possible in theory" but that"it's up to us if we want that to happen."
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"Finally in Glasgow for the COP26! And thank you for the very warm welcome," the 18-year-old tweeted.
Thunberg traveled by train to Glasgow from London, where she had taken part in a protest demanding that financial institutions stop funding fossil fuel extraction.
In the BBC interview, Thunberg said that sometimes anger was the right response as part of environmental demonstrations. She was asked about the protest tactics of campaigners in the U.K. who in recent weeks have been blocking roads.
"To make clear, as long as no one gets hurt, ... then I think sometimes you need to anger some people," she said."Like, for instance, the school strike movement would never have become so big if there wasn't friction."
Thunberg is expected to take part in a demonstration on Nov. 5 organized by the Scottish arm of Fridays for Future, the student movement she founded in 2018. She is also scheduled to speak at a demonstration the following day.
In the BBC interview, Thunberg said she hadn't "officially" been invited to speak at the conference.
She told Marr that the conference needed "more representation from the so-called global south, from the most affected people and areas.
"It's not fair, when, for example, one country sends lots and lots of delegates, and then another country is very underrepresented. That already creates an imbalance and climate justice is at the very heart of this crisis."
The COP26 Coalition, which represents a number of groups including youth strikers, trade unions and faith groups, has called the climate summit "the most exclusionary in history, with thousands blocked from making their voices heard." They said that people have been kept from getting to Glasgow by a range of obstacles, including lack of access to vaccines and travel and sky-high accommodation costs.
About 25,000 international guests from nearly 200 countries are expected to attend the 12-day summit -- Downing Street said it was one of the largest events the U.K. has ever hosted - and prices for some short-term rental rooms have soared. One American delegate shared on social media his exchange with a property owner who asked for an extra $2,000 after realizing that the rental period overlapped with the summit.
Leaders from over 100 countries are expected in Glasgow for crunch talks today and Tuesday, but there are notable absences, including the leaders of China and Russia. Earlier this month, Queen Elizabeth II appeared to express irritation at world leaders who wouldn't commit to the summit.
Asked about the monarch's remarks, Thunberg said that she thought most people would concur with the queen.
"Yeah, I think most people agree with that," she said.