In this Sunday’s first reading, Abraham demonstrates his capacity to negotiate with God in an attempt to spare Sodom from threatened destruction. Energy ministers and senior officials from 21 nations came to Washington this week to negotiate their differences amidst an impasse on a new climate change treaty designed to head off ecological destruction.

The countries that use most of the world’s energy announced steps Tuesday to get more clean energy into the global market, including promotion of televisions that waste less electricity, cars that don’t need gasoline, and buildings and factories that use power more efficiently.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the agreements at the first gathering of energy officials from countries that use 80 percent of global energy: the U.S., Russia, China, Canada, Australia, Brazil, India, European countries, South Korea, Japan, South Africa, Mexico, and the United Arab Emirates.

Chu said the plans would eliminate the need to build more than 500 mid-sized power plants worldwide over the next 20 years. They also could smooth the way for international agreements on how to reduce the risk of climate change, he said.

lden Meyer, director of strategy and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said that while the meeting was not designed to sort out thorny issues in the talks to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, whose obligations run out in 2012, it was a step in the right direction. ". . . If this is the low-hanging fruit that can show that countries can cooperate to get something done together, that could improve the mood,” he said.

Negotiations failed in Copenhagen in December largely because the United States had no national policy to reduce its share of carbon pollution. The plan is still stalled in the U.S. Senate. The global talks will resume in Cancun, Mexico, in November.

Source: Articles by Renee Schoof for McClatchy and Shaun Tandon for Agence France Presse