The annual UN climate COP conference has begun in Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku beneath a menacing cloud. Once again, the world’s richest country will be led by a leader actively opposed to fixing one of the world’s most intractable and existential problems.
每年一度的联合国气候变化大会已在阴云下在阿塞拜疆首都巴库开幕。世界上最富有的国家将再次由一位积极反对解决世界上最棘手、最攸关生死的问题之一的领导人领导。
Global efforts to rein in planet-warming emissions have never proceeded as smoothly or effectively as needed, ever since they began three decades ago. But Donald Trump’s return to the White House comes at an especially fraught moment for a green energy transition that is still closer to the starting blocks than the finishing line.
控制温室气体排放的全球努力自30年前开始以来，从未像现在这样顺利或有效地推进。但唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)重返白宫适逢绿色能源转型——这一转型仍然更接近起点，而不是终点——到达一个特别令人忧心的时刻。
Another spate of exceptional heat means 2024 is on track to replace 2023 as the warmest year on record. The greenhouse gas emissions fuelling the heat that countries are supposed to be slashing instead grew to a record high last year, while weather extremes are battering cities across the globe with remorseless regularity. It is no time for the US, the second-biggest emitter after China, to be missing in action.
又一波异常高温意味着，2024年有望取代2023年，成为有记录以来最热的一年。各国本应大幅削减助长高温天气的温室气体排放量，然而该排放量却在去年创下历史新高，而极端天气正以无情的节奏袭击全球城市。美国作为仅次于中国的世界第二大排放国，现在绝不是退出行动的时候。