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外刊双语:促进经济增长与减少碳排放可同时兼顾?

2022-11-16 12:46 作者:自由英语之路  | 我要投稿

原文标题:
Carbon and the economy
Debunking degrowth
The link between economic growth and rising emissions has been broken. Now this decoupling must speed up
碳与经济
揭穿“去增长”的谬误
经济增长和排放量上升之间的联系已经被打破。现在,这种脱钩必须加快

 
Economic growth no longer requires rising emissions
经济增长不再依靠与日俱增的碳排放

[Paragraph 1]
GOOD NEWS on the fight against climate change can be hard to find.
很难听到关于应对气候变化的好消息。
 
Targets are missed, promises are broken and the planet gets hotter.
目标和承诺都已失效,地球变得越来越热。
 
But as worthies from across the world meet in Sharm el-Sheikh for the latest UN conference to pledge to do more to tackle this enormous problem, there is at least one reason for optimism.
但是,来自世界各地的知名人士在沙姆沙伊赫召开最新的联合国会议,承诺采取更多措施解决这一巨大问题。这至少给了我们一个乐观的理由。
 
A large and growing group of mostly rich countries has severed the link between economic growth and rising emissions of greenhouse gases.
越来越多的富裕国家切断了经济增长和温室气体排放量之间的联系。
 

图片


[Paragraph 2]
For the three centuries or so since the fossil-fuel age began in earnest, living standards and emissions have risen hand in hand.
自化石燃料时代正式开始以来的大约三个世纪里,生活水平和排放量一直在同步上升。
 
Coal, then oil and natural gas, all brought prosperity while also raising global temperatures.
煤炭、石油和天然气,虽都带来了经济繁荣,但也提高了全球气温。
 
This link has led some environmentalists and scientists to argue that only a programme of “degrowth”—reducing the pace of improvements in overall prosperity, or reversing them altogether—would avoid the worst effects of climate change.
因此, 一些环保主义者和科学家认为,只有“去增长”计划,即降低整体繁荣的增长速度,或者完全舍弃繁荣,这样才能避免气候变化的最坏影响。


图片


[Paragraph 3]
Yet over the past decade a growing number of countries—33 by TE’s count, home to over 1bn people—have managed to increase their GDP while reducing their emissions.
过去十年,越来越多的国家(据本报统计有33个),总人口超过了10亿规模,已经成功提高了GDP,同时也减少了碳排放。
 
After a peak in 2007 America reduced its territorial emissions from 6.13bn tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalent to 5.26bn before the pandemic.
在2007年达到峰值后,美国本土排放量从61.3亿吨二氧化碳当量减少到新冠疫情前的52.6亿吨。
 
And that is not because Americans are simply importing their toys and electronics from dirtier places.
这也并不是因为美国从更落后的国家进口了玩具和电子产品。

Strikingly, consumption emissions, which include a measure of the carbon embedded in imports, have fallen by 15% over the same period.
引人注目的是,消费排放量(包括进口中的碳含量)同期下降了15%。
 
[Paragraph 4]
Decoupling is largely a result of two big shifts.
脱钩很大程度上是两大转变的结果。
 
One is the changing structure of economies.As countries became richer they expanded their service sectors, which use less energy than manufacturing.
一是因为经济结构的转变。随着各国变得更加富裕,服务业得到了拓展,其能源消耗比制造业少。
 
In Britain, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, four-fifths of output is now generated by accountants, shop assistants and other service workers.
在工业革命的发源地英国,五分之四的产出是由会计、店员和其他服务工作者创造的。
 
Even in Germany, famed for its industrial prowess, manufacturing’s share of GDP is falling.
即使在以工业实力著称的德国,制造业在国民生产总值中所占的份额也在下降。
 
That has reduced the energy intensity of growth.
这降低了经济增长的能源强度。
 
[Paragraph 5]
Second, imports are getting greener.
二是因为进口产品越来越环保。
 
In the decade after the financial crisis, China’s export sector decarbonised faster than the rest of its economy.
在金融危机后的10年里,中国出口行业的脱碳速度超过了其他经济领域。
 
This has helped reduce the total carbon footprint of rich countries.
这有助于减少富裕国家的碳足迹。
 
[Paragraph 6]
This decoupling is unambiguously good news.
这种脱钩无疑是好消息。
 
But, with the link unbroken in many poorer countries, it has not been enough to reduce the pace of increase in global emissions.
但是,由于许多较贫穷的国家没有切断这种联系,这还不足以减缓全球排放的增长速度。
 
The task is therefore to speed up decoupling.
因此,我们的任务是加快脱钩。
 
That will not only demonstrate that tackling climate change and improving living standards can go together; it will also allow poorer parts of the world to use more of the remaining global carbon budget to get richer.
这不仅很好地证明了应对气候变化和提高生活水平是可以共同实现的,它还将允许世界上较贫穷的地区使用更多剩余的全球碳预算来变得更富裕。
 
[Paragraph 7]
Hearteningly, there are reasons to think such an acceleration is possible.
令人振奋的是,我们可以相信这种加速是可能实现的。
 
So far, decoupling has been achieved largely by reducing the energy needed per unit of output.
目前为止,脱钩主要是通过减少每单位产出所需的能源实现的。
 
But there are big gains to be had from making energy greener in the first place.
但是,从一开始就使用更环保的能源会有更大的好处。
 
Thanks to investment in renewables and greater electrification, such gains could soon be realised.
多亏了对可再生能源的投资和更大程度的电气化,这些收益可能很快就会实现。
 
That might even boost long-term growth: an economy that must scrimp and save to conserve energy is less dynamic than one in which power is green, abundant and cheap.
这甚至可能促进长期增长:一个更具的活力的经济应该靠绿色的、充足的、廉价的能源,而不是靠节俭来节约能源。
 
[Paragraph 8]
Some environmentalists may fret that celebrating such good news can have a perverse effect, by breeding complacency or making fighting climate change seem less urgent.
一些环保主义者可能会担心,庆祝这样的好消息可能会适得其反,滋生自满情绪,或者应对抗气候变化不再那么紧迫。
 
In fact, the lack of a trade-off between improving living standards and tackling climate change should be a reason to go faster still.
而事实上,正是因为之前提高生活水平和应对气候变化未能兼顾,我们才更有理由加快步伐。
 
It means one less excuse for timidity in Sharm el-Sheikh.
这意味着在沙姆沙伊赫会议上又少了一个怯懦的借口。
 
(恭喜读完,本篇英语词汇量660左右)
原文出自:2022年11月11日《The Economist》Leaders版块。

精读笔记来源于:自由英语之路

本文翻译:Maree

本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。



【补充资料】(来自于网络)
Sharm el-Sheikh沙姆沙伊赫,一译“沙尔姆谢赫”或“沙蓝埃薛克”,是一个位于西奈半岛(Sinai)南端的沙漠城市,濒临埃及西奈半岛东南端小海湾红海亚喀巴湾。扼蒂朗海峡要冲,控亚喀巴湾通红海门户,建有炮台和军事要塞,战略位置重要。附近海中多小岛、礁石,深水航道最窄处仅300米,是游览圣地。11月6日,《联合国气候变化框架公约》第二十七次缔约方大会(COP27)在埃及海滨城市沙姆沙伊赫正式开幕,会议将持续到11月18日。近200个国家的代表为了人类共同的命运齐聚这里,规划未来。

【重点句子】(3 个)
A large and growing group of mostly rich countries has severed the link between economic growth and rising emissions of greenhouse gases.
越来越多的富裕国家切断了经济增长和温室气体排放量之间的联系。
 
One is the changing structure of economies. As countries became richer they expanded their service sectors, which use less energy than manufacturing.
一是因为经济结构的转变。随着各国变得更加富裕,服务业得到了拓展,其能源消耗比制造业少。
 
In fact, the lack of a trade-off between improving living standards and tackling climate change should be a reason to go faster still.
而事实上,正是因为之前提高生活水平和应对气候变化未能兼顾,我们才更有理由加快步伐。

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