奧巴馬在氣候峯會上呼籲全球協作

UNITED NATIONS — President Obama, emboldened by the use of his executive powers to fight climate change at home, sought on Tuesday to marshal more than 100 world leaders behind a vast international effort to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and curb global warming.

聯合國——週二，由於受到在國內動用行政權力抗擊氣候變化的鼓舞，奧巴馬總統試圖帶領世界各國100多位領導人，開展一項廣泛的國際行動，以減少溫室氣體排放，遏制全球變暖。

But Mr. Obama, in pledging that the United States would set ambitious new targets to cut emissions in advance of critical global climate talks next year, will leave much of the hard work to his successor, or even the president after that. And in many countries, the mechanisms for achieving deep cuts in carbon emissions remain as politically and economically difficult as ever.

奧巴馬承諾，美國將在明年關鍵的全球氣候會議舉行之前，制定宏偉的減排新目標，但他此舉將會把大量苦差事留給繼任者，甚至是下下任總統。而且在許多國家，爲大幅削減碳排放建立相應機制，在政治上和經濟上都一如既往地困難。

"Yes, this is hard," Mr. Obama said to the United Nations General Assembly chamber, "but there should be no question that the United States of America is stepping up to the plate."

“是的，這件事不容易，”奧巴馬在聯合國大會(United Nations General Assembly)的會議廳說，“但毋庸置疑，美國正在承擔起責任。”

Nonetheless, he warned that the efforts would fail without significant cooperation from countries around the world. "We can only succeed in combating climate change if we are joined in this effort by every nation, developed and developing alike," the president said. "Nobody gets a pass."

然而，他警告稱，沒有世界各國的通力合作，這些努力可能會失敗。“只有所有國家，無論是發達國家還是發展中國家，都加入這一行動，我們才能在抗擊氣候變化這件事上取得成功，”奧巴馬總統說。“誰都不能逃避。”

"Today, I call on all countries to join us, not next year or the year after that, because no nation can meet this global threat alone," he said.

“今天，我號召所有國家加入我們，而不是在明年或後年，因爲沒有哪個國家能獨自面對這一全球威脅，”他說。

The daylong climate summit meeting, organized by the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, showcased how climate change has become a genuinely global preoccupation, but also reinforced the divides between developed and developing countries.

這次氣候峯會由聯合國祕書長潘基文(Ban Ki-moon)組織召開，爲期一天。會議顯示出氣候變化怎樣變成了一個真正全球化的重要議題，但也強化了發達國家和發展中國家之間的分歧。

Mr. Obama promoted an executive action he announced this year that mandates cutting pollution from the nation's power plants 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. He said the United States would meet its previous pledge to reduce the nation's overall carbon emissions 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.

奧巴馬對他今年公佈的一項行政行動進行了宣傳。該行動要求，在2030年之前將美國發電廠的污染，從2005年的水平上減少30%。他表示，美國將兌現之前的承諾，在2020年前，讓美國的總體碳排放從2005年的水平上減少17%。

Reciting record-setting temperatures and a litany of natural disasters, from hurricanes and wildfires to droughts and floods, Mr. Obama tried to raise the sense of urgency surrounding climate change at a United Nations meeting dominated by fears of terrorism.

奧巴馬羅列了創紀錄的溫度，以及從颶風和野火，再到乾旱和洪水的一連串自然災害，試圖在這場恐怖主義威脅成爲主要擔憂的聯合國會議上，提升氣候變化議題的緊迫感。

"We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it," Mr. Obama said.

“我們是感受到氣候變化影響的第一代人，也是能對此採取行動的最後一代人，”奧巴馬說。

Much of the attention at this summit meeting has focused on China, the world's largest carbon emitter. President Xi Jinping chose not to attend the meeting. Instead, he sent Zhang Gaoli, his vice premier, who presented his own figures to make the case that China was doing its part.

在這次峯會上，大量注意力都集中在世界最大的碳排放國中國身上。中國國家主席習近平選擇不出席該會議，而是派出了副總理張高麗。張高麗展示了自己的數據，以證明中國正在儘自己的責任。

China's carbon intensity, Mr. Zhang said, is down 28 percent this year from 2005 levels; renewable energy accounts for 24 percent of China's installed capacity; and the nation is on track to meet its goal of reducing emissions 40 percent to 45 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.

張高麗說，中國今年的碳排放強度與2005年的水平相比降低了28%，可再生能源佔中國裝機容量的24%，而且中國很有希望完成到2020年，將碳排放強度從2005年的水平上降低40%至45%的目標。

"As a responsible major developing country, China will make an even greater effort to address climate change and take on international responsibilities that are commensurate with our national conditions," Mr. Zhang said.

張高麗說，作爲一個負責任的發展中大國，“今後中國將以更大力度和更好效果應對氣候變化，主動承擔與自身國情、發展階段和實際能力相符的國際義務。”

As a political display, the parade of speeches was part of the largest gathering of world leaders ever devoted to climate change. It followed a march of more than 400,000 people in New York on Sunday, the largest political demonstration on climate change.

這一系列演講作爲一場政治表演，是迄今爲止涉及氣候變化的最大規模的全球領導人峯會中的一部分。會議召開前，週日有超過40萬人在紐約舉行了一次遊行，這也是關於氣候變化的規模最大的一次政治示威活動。

"We need to take action now to limit global temperature rise," said Mr. Ban, the United Nations secretary general, in opening the session. "We need all hands on deck to ride out this storm."

“我們現在必須採取行動來遏制全球氣溫上升，”聯合國祕書長潘基文在大會的開幕致辭中說。“我們需要齊心協力地安全渡過這場災難。”

But neither marches nor speeches yield policy. And now, in world capitals, the hard work of translating rhetoric into government action will get underway — or, in some cases, will not.

不過，遊行和演講都不等同於政策。現在，世界各國政府都會開展艱難的工作，把政治表態轉變爲政府行動——然而有時並不能做到。

Experts say that in the coming months, the clearest indication of how serious governments are about following through on this week's lofty pledges will be whether they quickly harness teams of economists, energy experts and data analysts to draft aggressive new energy plans — and then work to build political support for such plans.

未來數月，各國政府對於遵守本週冠冕堂皇的承諾，究竟有多認真？專家稱，一個最明確的指標就是，他們是否能迅速召集經濟學家、能源專家和數據分析師，來制定一些強有力的新能源計劃，然後努力爲這些計劃凝聚政治支持。

The aim of this week's talks is to start efforts to broker a deal next year in Paris that will bind the world's largest carbon polluters — the United States, Brazil, China, the European Union, India, Japan, Russia, and others — to enacting laws to cap their use of the coal that supplies billions of people with cheap electricity, and the oil and gasoline that fuel the planet's cars and trucks.

本週會談的目的是，開始爲明年在巴黎達成協議做準備。該協議將團結世界上最大的碳污染源——美國、巴西、中國、歐盟、印度、日本、俄羅斯等國家——來頒佈法律限制它們對煤炭、石油、汽油的使用。煤炭爲數十億人提供了廉價的電力，燃油則爲全世界的轎車和卡車提供動力。

That means enacting politically controversial policies such as taxing carbon pollution, creating market-based "cap and trade" programs, or setting new regulations.

這意味着要實施充滿政治爭議的政策，比如對碳污染徵稅、創造基於市場的“總量控制和交易”(cap-and-trade)項目，或者實施新規定。

Climate-change experts generally expressed enthusiasm about Mr. Obama's speech, noting that it was the first time the United States had addressed such a gathering after instituting sweeping measures of its own.

氣候變化專家普遍對奧巴馬的演講給予了熱情評價，他們指出這是美國首次在自行採取大規模舉措後，在這種會議上發言。

"You have to act domestically to have any credibility with international partners on this issue," said Jennifer Morgan, director of the climate and energy program at the World Resources Institute.

世界資源研究所(World Resources Institute)氣候與能源項目的負責人珍妮弗·摩根(Jennifer Morgan)說，“關於這個問題，你必須先在國內採取一些行動，才能讓國際上的合作伙伴信服。”