【TED演讲稿】眼下人类所需的亿万环境污染治理方案

TED演讲者：Stacy Kauk / 斯泰西·考克

演讲标题：The billion-dollar pollution solution humanity needs right now / 眼下人类所需的亿万环境污染治理方案

内容概要：Could the same mechanism used to accelerate vaccine development work for spurring solutions to the climate crisis? Sustainability innovator Stacy Kauk introduces the billion-dollar fund to supercharge the carbon removal market, which would help build a new industry aimed at drawing down carbon pollution from the air and storing it safely.

用于加速疫苗开发的机制能否同样用于促进气候危机的解决方案呢？可持续发展创新者斯泰西·考克（Stacy Kauk）介绍了为助力碳去除市场发展而成立的十亿美元基金，而这项基金将帮助兴建一个旨在从空气中吸取碳污染并将其安全储存的新产业。

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【1】How much money do we need in order to remove a significant amount of carbon dioxide out of our atmosphere?

需要投入多少资金 才能将大量的二氧化碳 从我们的大气层中移除呢？

【2】And what are the mechanisms that we should use to spend all of that money?

我们又应该以什么样的方式 来利用这笔资金呢？

【3】I'm the head of sustainability at Shopify, a company you may not know but you might interact with every day because our technology powers millions of online retailers.

我是 Shopify 公司的 可持续发展负责人。 你可能没听说过我们公司, 但搞不好你每天都在和我们打交道, 因为我们为数百万 在线零售商提供技术支持。

【4】In 2019, we wanted to become a carbon-neutral company and be accountable for all of our historical emissions.

在 2019 年, 我们想要成为一家零碳企业, 也要对我们 先前所有的排放量负责到底。

【5】Instead of buying typical, traditional carbon offsets that simply pay someone else to not pollute as much as we already had, we actually wanted to delete our emissions.

我们没有按惯例购买碳抵消额度, 单单通过付钱来阻止别人 造成和我们一样的污染, 而是想要彻底抵消我们造成的排放。

【6】It quickly became obvious that carbon removal, those solutions that pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and store it safely, were very expensive and in short supply.

显然,碳去除技术 这类将二氧化碳从大气中捕获 并安全储存的解决方案, 成本极高而且还很稀缺。

【7】So to kick-start this almost non-existent market, we launched our sustainability fund and committed to spend a minimum of five million dollars every year on the most promising solutions.

因此,为了启动 这个几乎不存在的市场, 我们发起了可持续发展基金, 并承诺每年至少将 500 万美元 投资在最有潜力的碳中和方案上。

【8】Now, obviously we need deep emissions reductions, I'm not disputing that.

毋庸置议,我们现在需要的 显然是深度减排。

【9】But alongside this, we also need to build the world's capacity to pull ten gigatons of carbon dioxide out of the sky, every year, by 2050.

但与此同时, 我们也需要让全球 具备每年从大气 捕获 100 亿吨二氧化碳的能力, 在 2050 年前就要实现。

【10】Now, at the time, five million was a big number, and it was a really big number to spend on something in its infancy.

在 2019 年, 五百万是一笔大数目, 更别说这笔钱只是用于开发初期上。

【11】And we thought we were doing something significant.

起初我们觉得这项事业很了不起,

【12】But then we totally hit a wall.

但现实给了我们当头一棒。

【13】We weren't even thinking at the right scale.

因为我们连规模都没有考虑对。

【14】We need to build massive facilities capable of pulling one million tons of carbon dioxide out of the air every year, and we need thousands of them.

按计划,我们应兴建大型处理厂, 每年从大气 捕获 100 万吨二氧化碳,这还只是单座处理厂的处理量, 而我们需要数千座这样的处理厂。

【15】And in order to do that, we need project financing of about one billion dollars per plant.

要想实现这个目标, 需要为每座处理厂注资约十亿美元。

【16】Now, to put that into perspective, our five-million-dollar annual budget would probably buy about 10,000 tons of carbon removal every year.

要说这是个什么概念的话, 那我们每年 500 万美元的预算, 大概每年只能固碳 1 万吨。

【17】That's tiny.

少得可怜。

【18】That's only one percent of the annual capacity of the size of the facilities we need.

和处理厂每年所需的处理量比起来, 仅有百分之一。

【19】And like I said, we need thousands of them.

而且,我还说过 我们需要数千座这样处理厂。

【20】So we've learned that in order to move the dial on climate and to build the necessary infrastructure, we need more money, way more money.

所以呢,要是真想改善气候环境 并且兴建必要的基础设施, 我们需要更多资金, 现有资金远远不足。

【21】And in order to do that, we need collaborations and we need structures that leverage the significant power of capital to create even bigger effects.

筹集资金 就需要各方协作, 也需要建立一种机制,将资本的伟力 最大化利用,来实现更优结果。

【22】So now I'd like to tell you about what we did next.

那么,现在我就讲讲 我们接下来做了些什么。

【23】It's a mechanism that we launched alongside four other companies.

我们与四家公司联合 建立了一种机制。

【24】It's an AMC.

叫做 AMC。

【25】AMC stands for Advance Market Commitment, and this one’s designed to help guarantee a future market for carbon removal by trying to de-risk the R and D investment

也就是预先市场承诺机制, 我们用这一机制来保障未来的 碳去除市场, 具体则是帮助控制研发投资

【26】and capital expenditures needed to scale carbon removal and grow that industry.

和资本支出的风险, 以保障碳去除的规模化应用 以及行业的整体发展。

【27】Now, why I think this is such a promising approach is because it's not new.

为什么我觉得这种方案更有希望呢？ 是因为 AMC 不是什么新奇的概念,

【28】AMCs have been used in the past in the health care sector to encourage and accelerate the development of vaccines.

过去曾用于医疗卫生领域 以激励和加速疫苗研发。

【29】It worked by essentially guaranteeing the economic viability of production by setting a price in advance.

其原理是基本确保了 疫苗生产在经济上的可行性, 因为预先定下了价格。

【30】This meant that companies could justify the R and D resources needed to develop the vaccine as well as the costs associated with bringing it to market.

这样一来, 疫苗公司研发疫苗所投入的资源 就有了保障, 疫苗产品 进入市场的成本也有据可依了。

【31】They just needed to know that someone was going to buy their product at a set price.

这些公司其实只需要心里有底 有人会以相对确定的价格 购买他们的产品。

【32】So this AMC borrows the idea of a purchase guarantee to try to accelerate the development and scaling of carbon removal.

AMC 借用了 购买担保的逻辑, 来加速碳去除的研发 和规模化应用。

【33】And to do that, we set up a fund, and it's a pretty big fund.

为此,我们设立了一个基金, 其规模相当可观。

【34】It’s nearly one billion dollars, and it's called Frontier.

资金总额接近 10 亿美元, 名为“前沿 (Frontier)”。

【35】But Frontier has to overcome some significant differences between vaccine development and carbon removal.

但前沿基金仍需 克服疫苗研发和碳去除 之间的诸多显着差异。

【36】First, vaccine development has been done for a long time and we've largely worked out the supply chain and infrastructure challenges, the operational issues and the policy definitions.

首先,疫苗研发由来已久, 我们已经谙熟相关的供应链 和基础设施问题, 了解实际运营和有关政策的要点。

【37】But for carbon removal, this is essentially still a new industry that faces all of these hurdles.

碳去除则不然, 这仍是一个新兴产业, 以上问题都是难点。

【38】For example, a lot of carbon removal technologies rely on clean power to operate because if they don't, they'll emit more carbon dioxide than they capture.

就比如, 很多碳去除技术手段 都依赖清洁能源, 否则的话, 捕获的二氧化碳 还赶不上运行过程中的排放量。

【39】But clean power does not exist today at the scale and distribution we need.

但清洁能源现在的供应 还跟不上我们的需求。

【40】Second, vaccines are developed by established companies with deep R and D teams and experience.

第二,疫苗研发, 通常是大公司在做, 他们有卓越的研发团队和丰富的经验。

【41】Whereas today, carbon removal largely exists on paper, in the lab or at the start-up stage, there’s only a handful of companies worldwide right now that are any further along.

但现在, 碳去除技术要么仍在构想, 要么刚开始实验,要么才进入初创阶段, 相对进入正轨的碳去除技术公司, 即便是全球范围内, 一只手都数得过来。

【42】Third, the manufacturing facilities for vaccines already exist at scale.

第三,生产疫苗的设备早已颇具规模。

【43】But for carbon removal, the largest facility in operation today is Climeworks’s as Orca plant in Iceland.

但碳去除呢, 今天投入运转的最大设施 位于冰岛, 是 Climeworks 公司的 Orca 工厂。

【44】It has an annual capacity of 4,000 tonnes, which is orders of magnitude less than what we need.

其年碳捕获量达到了 4000 吨, 和我们所需实现的还差几个数量级。

【45】This means that today there's no company or facility in operation that can respond to the demand signal of Frontier.

也就说,现今没有一家公司、 没有一处设备 能够满足前沿基金的需求。

【46】So to summarize, for vaccine development, all these companies needed as an incentive was a dollar sign.

总结而言, 对于疫苗开发, 只要市场有需求, 各家公司就会闻风而动。

【47】They had everything they needed to jump into action and respond.

因为他们万事俱备, 只需要赶快行动就好了。

【48】But today, carbon removal needs so much more.

但碳去除则不然,差太多了。

【49】Even though there's a lot of different ways to approach this, I do believe that this is a significant market signal that Shopify, alongside Stripe, Alphabet, Meta and McKinsey Sustainability

虽然改善现状的方案有很多, 但我仍相信,传递市场信号很重要, Shopify 与 Stripe、甲骨文 (Alphabet)、Meta 麦肯锡可持续发展部 (McKinsey Sustainability)

【50】have committed to buying nearly one billion dollars combined of the product.

共同承诺 将会出资合计近 10 亿美元 购买碳去除技术产品。

【51】But the carbon removal ecosystem is underdeveloped.

但碳去除产业生态仍欠发达。

【52】Even though Frontier is essentially helping to underwrite all of the broad investment needed to scale carbon removal, this is an imperfect application of the advance market commitment mechanism because the carbon removal ecosystem is underdeveloped.

即便前沿基金基本上已经在帮助承担 碳去除实现规模化所需的各类投资, 这样使用预先市场承诺机制 仍难尽如人意, 因为碳去除生态系统只初具雏形。

【53】However, however, this is exactly what we need to do to supercharge progress by accelerating innovation.

不过, 话说回来,恰恰应该如此: 以推动创新力促突破。

【54】It is so important to take chances and to experiment.

见机而作、不断试验太重要了。

【55】And as buyers of carbon removal, we have an opportunity to stand up and do our part to build for the future, and this commitment does just that.

身为碳去除的买家, 我们有机会挺身而出, 为未来做出一份贡献, 这一机制正为此而设。

【56】So now we have Frontier, which is the demand pull by providing capital and resources through the advanced market commitment mechanism.

现在呢,前沿基金已经落地, 提供资金、资源拉动市场需求, 通过预先市场承诺机制实现。

【57】But what about the other side of the equation?

但另一边呢？

【58】We also need a supply push.

供应端同样需要激励。

【59】To start, in addition to all of the new climate companies being launched, we also need companies from existing industries with transferable skills to jump in and start developing carbon removal.

首先, 除了那些新公司接连成立外, 我们还需要来自成熟产业的公司, 他们具备各类可迁移技能, 可以马上投身于碳去除技术。

【60】I'm talking about -- now, don't get mad -- I'm talking about industries like oil and gas, mining, manufacturing, infrastructure and electricity, who all have deep experience building huge projects.

我具体所指的是—— 嗯,请别生气—— 我具体所指的是这类产业: 石油和天然气行业、 采矿业、制造业、 基建行业和电力行业, 这些产业均对建设大型项目驾轻就熟。

【61】That's the massive scale that we need that I was talking about at the beginning.

这种规模才是我们所需的, 就像我之前提到的一样。

【62】Alongside this, we also need to build a robust management system to ensure that all of these new carbon-removal solutions are in fact capturing more carbon dioxide than they emit.

另外, 我们还需要稳健的管理体系, 用以保证投入使用的碳去除方案 确实捕获量大于排放量。

【63】This is kind of along the lines of the quality assurance, quality control and process trials we rely on to ensure that our vaccines are safe and that they work.

这有点像我们所说的质保、 品控还有试制工艺, 它们确保疫苗安全、 对人体有效。

【64】But most importantly, we need more practice doing the actual thing rather than trying to get it perfect on paper.

但最重要的是, 我们要付诸实践 而不能只是纸上谈兵。

【65】If we don't try, we can't learn, and if we don't learn, we cannot iterate and improve.

不尝试就无从吸取经验, 不总结经验就无法迭代、进步。

【66】This AMC is technology-neutral.

这一 AMC 是不偏重任何技术手段的。

【67】Frontier sends out the demand signal, but we do not specify which technology should be used to meet it.

前沿基金向市场发出需求信号, 对实现目标的任何技术手段一视同仁。

【68】But what we do specify is the quality standard we expect in order to ensure that real, permanent carbon removal took place at the agreed-upon price.

但我们对质量标准有严格要求, 这是为了保障 永久性的碳去除 能在协议价格下落到实处。

【69】Now this arrangement, we’re hoping, should encourage experimentation and tight iteration cycles that should quickly separate the promising solutions from all of the distractions.

这种安排,我们希望 能激励实验创新、 带来快节奏的迭代周期, 也就能快速 让有潜力有价值的方案脱颖而出, 淘汰掉其余不理想的。

【70】Now, I’d like to ground this in reality by providing three solid examples of companies who are already on their way and some of them are actually doing the thing.

为了加以佐证, 我给大家找三个有力例证: 这三家公司都在朝这个方向努力, 其中的两家已经基本成型了。

【71】First, we have Climeworks, operating in Iceland.

第一,于冰岛建厂的 Climeworks。

【72】They use direct air capture machines to filter carbon dioxide out of the air and capture it for storage.

这家公司采用直接空气碳捕获 (DAC) 设备 过滤空气中的二氧化碳, 将其捕获并储存。

【73】And they've now since broken ground on their next-scale facility, which should be able to pull 36,000 tons of CO2 out of the air.

现在,他们已经着手 建造更大规模的设备, 去除二氧化碳能力预计 可达到 3 万 6 千吨。

【74】Next, we have Running Tide, who sink kelp deep into the open ocean to lock away carbon dioxide that's been captured through photosynthesis.

第二,Running Tide, 他们向深海投放海藻, 利用光合作用 捕获并封存二氧化碳。

【75】They’re currently working through their first-scale deployment, and they're building all of the measurement, quantification and monitoring systems at the same time.

Running Tide 目前正在部署 首次大规模投放, 同时也在完善测度、 量化和检测系统, 两边工作同时进行。

【76】And third, we have Heirloom, who plan to accelerate the natural capacity of limestone to react with and capture carbon dioxide and lock it away.

第三,Heirloom, 该公司试图增强 石灰石在自然条件下 与二氧化碳反应并将其吸收的能力, 借此封存二氧化碳。

【77】And now they plan to do this by accelerating the natural absorption rates of the rock from approximately a year to just days.

现在,他们的目标是 加速石灰石吸收二氧化碳的速度, 将原本耗时一年的过程 缩短到仅仅数天完成。

【78】They're set to break ground on their first commercial-scale facility in the United States in 2023.

Heirloom 首个具备工业规模的设施 将于 2023 年在美国动工。

【79】Now, there are many other companies that are starting to emerge that I could have mentioned here.

当然,还有很多其他公司 也在不断取得进展, 有机会的话我也想一一介绍。

【80】However, from these three examples, what you can see is the diversity of solutions.

不过,从我所提到的三家公司中, 大家就能大致了解 碳去除技术手段的多样性。

【81】And we're agnostic about that.

我们对其也不尽了解。

【82】All that matters is that they achieve the results within the set parameters.

重点在于,这些技术手段都能 按既定要求实现碳去除。

【83】Now, before I end, I must address the question of our own operations.

好了,在结束之前, 我必须要再聊聊我们公司 是如何运营的。

【84】So to start, Shopify is a carbon-neutral company, and we've committed to kick-starting the carbon-removal market.

首先呢, Shopify 是一家零碳企业, 我们以帮助启动并完善 碳去除市场为使命。

【85】Our business is all about helping millions of entrepreneurs succeed.

所有的努力都是为了 服务数百万企业家。

【86】And today, they're experiencing so many challenges.

今时今日,企业家们 面临的挑战太多了。

【87】We have an opportunity to help them become carbon-neutral and to leverage carbon removal in order to future-proof their businesses, which in turn safeguards ours.

而 Shopify 有机会 帮助他们实现零碳排放, 有机会充分利用碳去除 以保障这些企业的长足发展, 最终也是为了我们所有人的美好明天。

【88】Now, not a lot of them have climate teams.

很多企业还没有配备气候团队。

【89】But we have the opportunity to share our experience and expertise with them.

但我们能和他们分享 我们的专业知识、我们的经验。

【90】And so what we're trying to do is take everything we've learned about reducing and managing Shopify's emissions and from vetting and buying high-quality carbon removal, and we’re trying to take those lessons and put them out on our platform to make them available for all of our merchants.

我们的目标是 把我们全部的经验教训, 不论是来自 Shopify 自身减排管理的经历, 还是关于审查 并购买高质量的碳去除服务, 把这些经验教训总结梳理, 然后投放到我们的平台上, 以供我们的客户借鉴。

【91】Not only will this help reduce emissions, but this will also help create the very market that all of these new carbon-removal companies who are building in response to Frontier's demand signal will rely on.

这不仅能帮助减排, 也能完善市场 来容纳所有这些新兴碳去除公司, 促使他们的发展步伐 跟上前沿基金释放的需求信号。

【92】This is a feedback loop that will spur innovation and drive the development of carbon removal at the scale the world needs.

这种良性循环能策励创新, 推动碳去除行业发展 达到世界所需的规模。

【93】Thank you.

谢谢大家。

【94】(Applause)