The United States government will be missing from a global climate summit for the first time next month, and the timing couldn’t be more inconvenient for other world leaders.

They are desperate to commence work with the incoming Biden administration, which is promising the most ambitious climate change policies of any incoming American administration, including a “100 percent clean energy economy” and “net-zero emissions no later than 2050.”

But when dozens of national leaders gather online Dec. 12,at a summit organized by the U.K. government to press ahead with a new and more onerous stage of theParis climate agreement, the U.S. won’t be at the table: The Trump administration hasleft the agreement, while President-elect Joe Biden and his transition team can’t attend.

That dynamic left British Prime Minister Boris Johnson bragging to the House of Commons about Biden’s enthusiasm for a climate summit more than a year away — “it was extremely exciting to talk to […]