印度政府拒絕減少溫室氣體排放

In a blow to American hopes of reaching an international deal to fight global warming, India’s new environment minister said Wednesday that his country would not offer a plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions ahead of a climate summit next year in Paris.

印度新任環境部長週三表示，在明年的巴黎氣候峯會之前，他的國家不會提交減排溫室氣體的方案，這對美國想達成一項應對全球變暖的國際協議的希望是個打擊。

The minister, Prakash Javadekar, said in an interview that his government’s first priority was to alleviate poverty and improve the nation’s economy, which he said would necessarily involve an increase in emissions through new coal-powered electricity and transportation. He placed responsibility for what scientists call a coming climate crisis on the United States, the world’s largest historic greenhouse gas polluter, and dismissed the idea that India would make cuts to carbon emissions.

環境部長普拉卡什·雅瓦德卡爾(Prakash Javadekar)在接受採訪時說，印度政府的首要任務是消除貧困，提高本國經濟水平，他說，這必定會涉及新的燃煤發電和運輸，從而增加排放。他把科學家稱之爲即將到來的氣候危機歸咎於美國，美國在歷史上一直是世界上最大的溫室氣體排放國，他還表示對印度將減少碳排放量的說法不屑一提。

“What cuts?” Mr. Javadekar said. “That’s for more developed countries. The moral principle of historic responsibility cannot be washed away.” Mr. Javadekar was referring to an argument frequently made by developing economies — that developed economies, chiefly the United States, which spent the last century building their economies while pumping warming emissions into the atmosphere — bear the greatest responsibility for cutting pollution.

“什麼減排？”雅瓦德卡爾問道。“那是更發達國家的事兒。歷史責任的道義原則不能被沖淡。”雅瓦德卡爾指的是發展中的經濟體經常用的一個論點，即發達經濟體，主要是美國，對減排負有最大的責任，那些國家用上個世紀建設了自己的經濟，同時向大氣層排放了大量的溫室氣體。

Mr. Javadekar said that government agencies in New Delhi were preparing plans for India’s domestic actions on climate change, but he said they would lead only to a lower rate of increase in carbon emissions. It would be at least 30 years, he said, before India would likely see a downturn.

雅瓦德卡爾說，新德里的政府機構正在準備印度應對氣候變化的國內行動計劃，但他表示，計劃只會讓碳排放量增長的速度放慢。他說，至少需要30年的時間，印度纔可能會看到排放量的下降。

“India’s first task is eradication of poverty,” Mr. Javadekar said, speaking in a New York hotel suite a day after a United Nations climate summit. “Twenty percent of our population doesn’t have access to electricity, and that’s our top priority. We will grow faster, and our emissions will rise.”

“印度的首要任務是消除貧困，”雅瓦德卡爾說，他是在聯合國氣候峯會後的第二天，在紐約的一個酒店套房裏說這番話的。“我國有百分之二十的人口還沒有用上電，這是我們的首要任務。我們將更快地發展，我們的排放量將上升。”

India is the world’s third-largest carbon polluter, behind China and the United States, and Mr. Javadekar’s comments are a first indication of the direction of the environmental policies of the new prime minister, Narendra Modi, the author of a 2011 e-book, “A Convenient Action.” Although the book, a response to the movie “An Inconvenient Truth,” presents the moral case for action on climate change, Mr. Javadekar said that coal, the world’s top source of carbon pollution, would provide more than half of India’s power for the foreseeable future.

印度是世界第三大碳排放國，僅次於中國和美國。雅瓦德卡爾的這番話首次表明了新任總理納倫德拉·莫迪的環境政策指向，莫迪曾在2011年撰寫了一本名爲《不費事的行動》(A Convenient Action)的電子書。該書是對影片《難以忽視的真相》(An Inconvenient Truth)的迴應，雖然書中提出了對氣候變化採取行動的道義理由，但雅瓦德卡爾說，在可預見的未來，印度一半以上的能源將來自煤。煤是世界上碳污染的最主要來源。

In coming decades, as India works to provide access to electricity to more than 300 million people, its emissions are projected to double, surpassing those of the United States and China.

在未來的幾十年中，印度將努力讓3億以上的人用上電，該國的碳排放量預計將翻一番，超過美國和中國的排放量。

As President Obama and Chinese leaders have signaled that they intend to enact policies to decrease their emissions levels in the coming years, cooperation from India on a global climate treaty is crucial. Without India, it will be more difficult to reach a lasting agreement.

隨着奧巴馬總統和中國領導人都表示，他們打算制定在未來幾年中減少本國排放量的政策，印度在全球氣候條約上的合作變得至關重要。沒有印度的參與，達成持久的協議將更加困難。

As demand for electricity surges in India, Mr. Modi has said he plans to tackle climate change by increasing renewable power sources like wind and solar — an effort that has won applause from international environmental groups. Mr. Javadekar said his government was also focusing on increasing investment in railways and public transport, in order to slow the growth in demand for cars.

由於印度的電力需求激增，莫迪曾表示，他打算通過增加可再生能源、如風能和太陽能的使用，來應對氣候變化，這個努力贏得了國際環保組織的讚揚。雅瓦德卡爾說，印度政府也在加大對鐵路和公共交通的投資，以減緩對小汽車需求的增長。

In addition, he said the Modi administration was working on efforts to replant forests and create new wildlife refuge areas to protect tigers. “The new motto is, development without destruction,” Mr. Javadekar said.

除此之外，他說，莫迪政府正在植樹造林、以及爲保護老虎設立新的野生動物保護區等方面做出努力。雅瓦德卡爾說，“我們的新口號是，不用破壞的發展。”

A number of recent scientific reports have concluded that carbon emissions must peak within the next few years, and then decline, if the global atmosphere is to avoid an average temperature increase of 2 degrees Celsius, a tipping point at which scientists project an unavoidable future of rising sea levels, increased droughts and flooding and other catastrophic impacts.

最近幾篇科學報告的結論是，要讓全球大氣避免平均上升2攝氏度的話，碳排放量必須在未來幾年內達到峯值，然後下降，如果過了這個轉折點，科學家們預測，未來將不可避免地出現海平面上升、乾旱和洪水等災難增加，以及其他災難性的影響。

Mr. Obama has pushed for policies to lower emissions in the United States, and on Tuesday, the vice prime minister of China, Zhang Gaoli, said his country would try to reach a peak level of emissions “as soon as possible.”

奧巴馬已開始推行減少美國碳排放量的政策，中國國務院副總理張高麗在週二表示，中國將爭取碳排放總量“儘早”達到峯值。