Mayor Boris Johnson Monday outlined plans to make London "the cleanest, greenest city on Earth" by the 2012 Olympics and called for commitments from other world cities at a climate change conference.

Leaders of the world's 40 largest cities are meeting in Seoul this week for a summit on combating global warming - the third to be held since 2005.

"What we should do in Seoul is agree that we will stop the endless addiction of mankind to the internal combustion engine," said Johnson.

He told a press conference the world's cities consume 75 percent of its energy and produce 80 percent of the emissions which cause climate change.

"The problem of our planet is an urban problem," Johnson said, calling for "serious results" in Seoul.

He said the British capital wants to use the Olympics "to drive the greening and the improvement of our city" and noted that London is committed to reduce carbon emissions by 60 percent by 2025.

Johnson said the key measure was addressing the problems relating to domestic and commercial buildings, which accounted for 70 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in London.

This involved retrofitting - installing lagging - in large numbers of public buildings.

Johnson proclaimed himself a "passionate cyclist" and said he would push ahead with cycle super-highways around London.

London's air quality problem, he said, was caused by vehicle emissions from 8,300 antiquated diesel buses, which could be replaced by low-carbon vehicles.

There were also 32,000 taxis running on diesel fuel, which could be replaced by electric vehicles.

Johnson said there would be a substantial program in the next few years to produce a "cleaner, greener" bus for his city. "The age of the diesel-emitting bus has got to be over in London."

伦敦市长鲍里斯•约翰逊在本周一出席一次气候变化会议时称，伦敦计划在2012年举办奥运会前成为“全球最清洁最环保城市”，并呼吁其他各国城市共同参与。

本周，全球40个大城市的市长齐聚首尔，参加自2005年首次举办以来的第三届抵制全球变暖的峰会。

约翰逊说：“在此次首尔会议上，我们应同意终止人类无止境的‘内燃机上瘾症’。”

他在一次新闻发布会上称，全世界城市消耗的能源占全球总消耗量的75%，所排放的导致气候变化的废气则占到80%。

约翰逊说：“地球的问题其实是城市造成的。”他呼吁此次首尔会议取得“重要成果。”

他表示，伦敦愿以奥运会为契机，“提升城市环保水平”，并特别指出伦敦承诺在2025年之前将碳排放量减少60%。

约翰逊称将采取重要措施解决住宅和商业建筑有关问题，这两类建筑的二氧化碳排放量占伦敦市总排放量的70%。

这包括对大量公共建筑进行翻修，并加装隔热层。

约翰逊声称自己是位“热情的自行车运动者”，并称他将推动建设环伦敦“自行车高速公路”。

他表示，伦敦的空气质量问题是由8300辆破旧的柴油公交车排放废气造成的，这些车可以用低碳排放的交通工具替代。

此外，伦敦还有32000辆使用柴油的出租车，可以用电动车辆取而代之。

约翰逊称，未来几年将实施一项大规模计划，生产“更清洁、更环保”的公交车。他说：“伦敦市使用柴油公交车的时代就要结束了。”

Vocabulary:

internal combustion engine：内燃机

retrofit：to install, fit, or adapt (a device or system) for use with something older（更新，式样翻新）

push ahead with：推动，推进

来源: 英文阅读网