美国国家公共电台 NPR As Climate Negotiators Debate Nations' Pledges, Scientists Worry It's Not Enough

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

World leaders have been meeting in Bonn, Germany, over the past several days trying to work out next steps in the Paris climate agreement. President Trump¹ says the U.S. will withdraw from that deal, though that can't happen till 2020. NPR's Christopher Joyce reports on what the rest of the world is doing.

CHRISTOPHER JOYCE, BYLINE²: In 2015, governments met in Paris and promised to reduce emissions³ of greenhouse gases. Now they're in Bonn figuring out how to do that. While diplomats⁴ negotiate in private green businesses and environmentalists crowd the hallways, the U.S. government sent a small delegation⁵. They made one presentation on the value of clean coal that was disrupted by protesters.

California Governor Jerry Brown was there to explain that American states and cities are able and willing to reduce emissions even if the federal government is not.

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JERRY BROWN: When cities and states combine together and then join with powerful corporations - that's how we get stuff done. And we even have characters like this here to make it the dialectic of...

JOYCE: Heckling by environmental protesters is a regular part of these meetings. But Brown's message that states and cities will reduce emissions on their own has been welcomed as a partial stand-in for a federal effort.

As governments negotiate and protesters protest, climate scientists are increasingly skeptical⁶ that the Paris deal will do what's needed. Hanna Fekete is with the New Climate Institute. She says new research shows the targets set in Paris are weak as are efforts by countries to meet them.

HANNA FEKETE: What we actually find is that the large number of countries is in the category with weak targets and even weaker implementation⁷.

JOYCE: Countries like the U.S. Russia and China. The Paris Agreement set a goal - don't let the planet warm more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit⁸ above what it was before the Industrial Revolution. This latest analysis echoes others. Even with the Paris deal, the way things are going, global temperature could rise by over 6 degrees by the end of the century.

And scientists had even more bad news this week. Global emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, are going up. That's after three years where they remained fairly flat. Environmental scientists Robert Jackson at Stanford University says the increase is mostly from China.

ROBERT JACKSON: This year, for several reasons, their coal use has ticked back up by about 3 percent. And their oil and gas use has risen even faster.

JOYCE: China is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Emissions in the U.S. went down this year but not by much. And the U.S. remains⁹ the second largest source. And India looks like its emissions will grow a lot. They rose by only 2 percent this year, but Jackson says that won't last.

JACKSON: I expect India's emissions to rise faster again. They still have hundreds and millions of people without electricity. It's a tough nut to crack.

JOYCE: One thing the delegates in Bonn appear to agree on - the pledges made in Paris will have to get tougher. Christopher Joyce, NPR News.

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1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

4 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

6 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

7 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。

8 Fahrenheit   

n./adj.华氏温度；华氏温度计(的)

参考例句：

• He was asked for the boiling point of water in Fahrenheit.他被问到水的沸点是华氏多少度。
• The thermometer reads 80 degrees Fahrenheit.寒暑表指出华氏80度。

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。