Climate change negotiations among the world’s developed nations for the last 25 years have moved at glacial speed. But in the past ten days, entrenched positions have melted faster than the polar ice caps. For the sudden thaw we have one person to thank: Angela Merkel.

Her gradual build-up of pressure on George W Bush, at times so subtle it went almost unnoticed, on Thursday June 7 resulted in a notable shift in international relations on global warming. As of the G8 meeting, the Kyoto protocol – the only international agreement ever to contain legally binding commitments to reduce greenhouse gases, which scientists say is necessary on a huge scale to safeguard the planet - had been unexpectedly salvaged from its slow demise at the hands of diplomatic intransigence. The unlikely rescuer? President Bush.

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“Breakthrough” is not a word generally associated with international talks on climate change. Nor is “progress”. The words that most often accompany reports on global warming negotiations are “stalemate” or “deadlock” or “frustration”.

And from a first glance at the G8 declaration on climate change – all 38 pages of it – you would be forgiven for thinking that it was just more of the same.

But hidden on page 16, under item 52, is a quite remarkable change to the international landscape on climate change.

The US has agreed to start negotiations on a successor to the Kyoto protocol at a UN meeting in Bali later this year.

Why is that so remarkable? Because since George W Bush became president, the US has rejected the Kyoto protocol and blocked attempts to start negotiations on a successor to the treaty when it expires in 2012.

So is it a breakthrough?

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Clean coal technology, in which the carbon dioxide produced by burning the black stuff is captured and stored, is being heavily promoted as an answer to global warming by many in the power and coal mining industries. As part of its forthcoming energy white paper, the UK government will hand out subsidies to a handful of clean coal projects around the country, and most of the UK power generators are expected to compete for the cash. In today’s Times newspaper, however, Centrica, owner of British Gas, warns that clean coal plants will be expensive and a high price for carbon in the European Emissions Trading Scheme, as well as initial subsidies, will be needed to make them economically-viable.

UK energy companies are busy planning new coal-fired power plants, but are hedging their bets on clean-coal technology until they know more about the government subsidies available, and the forecast for carbon prices in the third phase of the European ETS, from 2012. RWE Npower said today it is looking at building a new £2bn coal-fired plant at Blyth in Northumberland. The new 2,400MW plant will be more efficient than older power stations, and will be "carbon-capture ready". Cynics suggest that this means little more than having enough spare land available at the site to possibly build clean coal equipment in the future……

How many businesses have a "chief energy officer"? And how many need one?

The question emerged from a new piece of research conducted by Hill and Knowlton, the PR company, among 420 senior business executives from the US, UK, China and Canada.

The survey found: a majority of senior technology leaders from around the globe (82 per cent) closely monitor the issue of global warming; most do not have a defined energy strategy to deal with it (65 per cent);

more than three quarters of business decision makers surveyed (77 per cent) believe there is a need to expand the C-Suite to include a Chief Energy Officer (CNO) to manage, implement and measure a company’s return on investment in environmental technology, the so-called Return on Environment (ROE).

I have never come across a company with a chief energy officer (or one that measures its "return on environment", come to that), and I wonder what type of companies might need one. For most companies, the most important energy issue is whether the lights stay on. In developed countries, that’s a given. Therefore designating someone at board level with such a title seems like overkill. But perhaps there are companies out there with "CNOs". Examples?

Mining and energy group BHP Billiton has not yet scrapped ideas of building California’s first terminal for imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), according to The Times of London, despite its plan being rejected by a second state regulator. A glamorous group of protestors, including Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry and Cindy Crawford, contend that the $800m offshore regasification project will cause damage to ocean mammals and birds and prove an eyesore for residents of Malibu. In what could be an intriguing clash of Hollywood tough guys, Californian governor Arnold Schwarzeneggar has implicitly backed the project, saying that LNG "should be part of California’s energy portfolio".