VOA常速英语2016--治理全球气候取得重大进展

In less than one year, the global community has made tremendous progress in addressing the numerous issues that negatively affect our climate. Last December, nearly 200 countries concluded negotiations 1 of the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius 2; the agreement entered into force in November 2016.

在不到一年的时间里，全球社区在解决对气候造成负面影响的诸多问题上取得了重大进展。去年12月，近200个国家完成了《巴黎协定》的协商工作，该协定旨在将全球气温上升控制在1.5摄氏度以下；该协定已于2016年11月生效。

Around the same time, the International Civil Aviation Organization adopted an unprecedented 3 global market-based measure that puts the international aviation industry on a path toward sustainable, carbon-neutral growth. And finally, 200 Parties of the Montreal Protocol 4 agreed to the Kigali Amendment 5 that will gradually reduce the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons, powerful greenhouse gases that are commonly used in refrigeration.

几乎同时，国际民航组织在全球范围内采用了一种前所未有的市场主导型的措施，该措施将让国际航空行业走上可持续碳平衡的发展道路。最终，《蒙特利尔议定书》的200个缔约方达成了《基加利修正案》，该修正案将逐渐减少制冷中常用的具有强温室效应的氢氟碳化物的产生和消耗。

And as the world moves toward sustainable energy production, the clean energy market is booming. This trend will only become more pronounced, said Secretary of State John Kerry at the recently-held 22nd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

在全球向可持续能源生产推进时，清洁能源市场也正当其时。清洁能源市场的趋势将愈发强劲，美国国务卿克里在近日举行的第22届《联合国气候变化框架公约》缔约方大会上这样说。

Last year alone, “investment in renewable energy was at an all-time high – nearly 350 billion dollars,” he said, “That 350 billion is the first time that we've been able to see that money outpacing what is being put into fossil fuels. An average of half a million new solar panels were installed every single day last year. And for the first time since the pre-industrial era, despite the fact that you have global prices of oil and gas and coal that are lower than ever, still more of the world's money was invested in renewable energy technologies than in new fossil fuel plants.”

仅去年一年，“可再生能源方面的投资就达到史上新高——近3.5亿美元”，他说，“这3.5亿美元的投资是可再生能源史上第一次超过了化石燃料的投资额。去年，新太阳能电池板平均每天的安装量就有50万。这也是自前工业化时代以来，史上第一次在全球油价和天然气价格达到新低的情况下，仍然有更多的资金投入到可再生能源技术中，而非投入新化石燃料工厂中。”

“Today our emissions 6 are being driven down because market-based forces are taking hold all over the world,” said Secretary of State Kerry. “Most businesspeople have come to understand: investing in clean energy simply makes good economic sense. You can make money. You can do good and do well at the same time,” he said.

“如今，我们的排放量逐渐下滑，因为全球范围内，以市场为基础的力量掌控着全球，”克里说道。“大多数商人开始认识到：对清洁能源进行投资会激发经济效益。你就能赚钱。你就能做好事的同时赚好钱，”他这样说。

“Ultimately, clean energy is expected to be a multitrillion dollar market – the largest market the world has ever known. And no nation will do well if it sits on the sidelines, handicapping its new businesses from reaping the benefits of the clean-tech explosion.”

“最终，清洁能源很可能成为万亿美金级别的市场——全球最大的市场。（在这个市场里，）对任何一个国家而言，袖手旁观是不会得到发展的，反而会阻碍其新业务从清洁技术的迅猛发展中获利”。