经合组织或限制燃煤发电公共融资

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　　问题缠身的煤炭产业正面临新一轮沉重打击，原因是富裕国家正考虑一项大胆计划，缩减对全球燃煤发电站投入的巨额资金支持。

　　Documents seen by the Financial Times show the US has struck a deal with Japan that would rein¹ in export credit agency financing for coal, a leading source of the greenhouse gas emissions² responsible for climate change.

　　英国《金融时报》看到的文件显示，美国已和日本达成一项协议。该协议会约束出口信贷机构为煤炭提供的融资。煤炭是引起全球气候变化的温室气体的主要排放源。

　　The proposal will be debated at a meeting in Paris next week of the Organisation³ for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which represents 34 of world’s richest countries.

　　下周经合组织(OECD)将在巴黎的一次会议上就该提案开展辩论。目前，经合组织代表着全球34个最富裕国家。

　　“It’s a huge breakthrough,” said one person familiar with the talks. If agreed by other countries, it would probably make the “vast majority” of about 1,000 planned coal plants ineligible⁴ for export credit agency backing, he said.

　　相关磋商的一位知情人士表示：“这是个巨大突破。”他说，如果其他国家也同意这一协议，可能会令约1000座已规划燃煤发电站中的“绝大多数”无资格获得出口信贷机构的资金支持。

　　In a sign of the difficulties of securing approval, Australia and South Korea, both home to large coal companies, have produced alternative proposals that would not go as far as the US-Japan plan.

　　澳大利亚和韩国则已拟定了不如美日方案激进的替代方案，显示美日方案要获得通过还有很多困难。目前，澳大利亚和韩国都是多家大型煤炭企业的所在地。

　　Jake Schmidt of the Natural Resources Defense⁵ Council, a US environmental group, described the Canberra/Seoul proposal as “a terrible sign” from countries that claim they want to deal with climate change.

　　美国环境组织自然资源保护协会(Natural Resources Defense Council)的杰克施密特(Jake Schmidt)称，澳大利亚和韩国的提案，是自称想应对气候变化的国家发出的“可怕信号”。

　　“They are trying to stop the simplest way to deal with this problem, which is to minimise the public finance going to coal power plants,” Mr Schmidt said.

　　施密特表示：“它们试图阻止应对这个问题的最简单方法，即将流向燃煤发电站的公共资金缩减至最少。”

　　EU countries are still working on their response to the competing proposals, according to people close to the discussions. The OECD secretariat has been hosting closed-door meetings for the past year in an effort to finalise common rules on restricting export agency coal financing. Next week’s meeting is seen as the last chance of reaching a deal.

　　据了解相关磋商的人士表示，欧盟(EU)国家仍在研究该对这些竞争性提案作何应对。过去一年里，经合组织秘书处一直在主持闭门会议，努力最终确定有关限制出口机构煤炭融资的通用规则。下周的会议被视为达成协议的最后机会。

　　The US and some EU countries have been pushing for a deal to be sealed before delegates from nearly 200 na琀椀漀渀猀 meet in December in Paris to finalise a new UN climate change agreement.

　　美国及部分欧盟国家一直在推动在12月的巴黎气候变化会议前达成协议。届时，来自近200个国家的代表将齐聚巴黎，最终敲定一份新的联合国(UN)气候变化协议。

　　Export credit agencies help companies do more business abroad in industries ranging from aerospace⁶ to energy, providing government-backed loans and other financial support for individual projects.

　　出口信贷机构帮助从航空到能源等诸多行业的企业在境外开展更多业务，为私人项目提供政府出资贷款及其他金融支持。

　　It is estimated that agencies from OECD countries channelled $34bn to coal power plants between 2007 and 2014, making these bodies a prominent target as climate change activists⁷ press for fossil fuel use to be phased out.

　　据估计，2007年到2014年间，经合组织国家的机构向燃煤发电站输送了340亿美元的资金。在气候变化人士施压要求逐步淘汰化石燃料之际，这些机构成为突出的靶子。

　　A number of large investors⁸ have already agreed to cut their holdings in coal companies over the past year.

　　过去一年里，许多大型投资者已同意减少对煤炭企业的持股。

　　But if OECD countries were to curb⁹ their export financing support for coal power plants it would add to the woes¹⁰ of an industry suffering from a glut¹¹ in supply that has driven coal prices sharply down over the past four years.

　　若经合组织国家限制对燃煤发电站的出口融资支持，会令该产业雪上加霜。在过去四年里，煤炭产业已受创于令煤炭价格暴跌的供应过剩。

　　The US and the UK have already agreed to rules limiting public financing abroad for coal-fired power plants.

　　美国和英国已就相关规定达成协议，限制对燃煤发电站提供境外公共融资。

　　Efforts to extend such rules in the OECD negotiations¹² were initially¹³ hampered¹⁴ by opposition¹⁵ from Japan, the world’s top public financer of overseas coal projects, according to a June report by environmental advocacy groups.

　　而把这类规定推广至经合组织磋商的努力，最初曾遭到日本的反对。根据多家环保倡议组织今年6月发布的一份报告，日本是全球对境外煤炭项目提供公共融资最多的国家。

　　The compromise deal reached last month between the US and Japan would still allow export financing for the most efficient types of coal power plants, but restrict support for many dirtier, less efficient units.

　　上个月美国和日本之间达成的妥协协议，仍将允许对效率最高的燃煤发电站提供出口融资，却会限制对许多污染更大、效率更低的发电站的支持。

　　These rules would be reviewed from 2019, with the aim of phasing down support further.

　　这些规定将在2019年重新审议，以进一步降低相关资金支持。

　　The plans from Australia and South Korea would continue to allow export financing for some of the projects the US-Japan plan would rule out. In the papers, Seoul says it shares the view that coal power plants need to be re搀甀挀攀搀 to counter climate change, but there should be more consideration for the energy welfare of developing nations.

　　对部分美日计划会排除的项目，澳大利亚和韩国的计划会继续允许出口融资。在相关文件中，韩国政府表示自己也同样认为，要对抗气候变化就必须减少燃煤发电站，不过也应该对发展中国家的能源福祉予以更多考虑。

　　South Korea’s Ministry¹⁶ of Trade, Industry and Energy declined to comment. Greg Hunt, Australia’s environment minister, declined to discuss Australia’s specific position on the issue but said Canberra was not trying to obstruct¹⁷ a deal at the OECD talks.

　　韩国贸易、工业及能源部(Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy)拒绝评论此事。澳大利亚环境部长格雷格亨特(Greg Hunt)拒绝讨论澳大利亚对该问题的具体立场。不过他表示，澳大利亚不会试图阻止经合组织的磋商达成协议。

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