T he US will be absent from key UN climate talks that start on Monday, a further sign of Donald Trump’s scornful dismissal of the climate crisis. But Democrats’ crushing win in the US midterm elections has delivered a timely shot of optimism to countries now looking beyond the Trump era of climate obstruction.

For the second year in a row , there will be no official US government presence at the annual climate summit, this year known as Cop31 and held in Antalya, Turkey. While almost every other country in the world sends delegations to the talks, Trump has derided the climate crisis as a “hoax” and “bullshit” and triggered the withdrawal of the US from the entire international climate framework.

“This summit rejects reality by failing to acknowledge that extremist climate policies are destroying countries around the world,” a White House official said, confirming that the administration would not send anyone to Cop31 .

The snub is so severe that about 20 members of the US Congress heading to the summit…