纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英中国在太阳能领域领先世界但其对煤炭的依赖仍令人担忧

China is installing about as many solar panels and wind turbines as the rest of the world combined, and is on track to meet its target for clean energy six years early. It is using renewables to meet nearly all of the growth in its electricity needs.

中国正在安装的太阳能电池板和风力涡轮机的数量大致相当于世界其他国家的总和，并有望提前六年实现清洁能源目标。它正在使用可再生能源来满足几乎所有的电力需求增长。

Yet there is another side to that rapid expansion, one that is causing consternation in Washington at a critical period of climate diplomacy: China is also building new power plants that burn coal, the dirtiest of the fossil fuels, at a pace that dwarfs the rest of the world.

然而，在气候外交的关键时期，这种快速扩张还有另一个方面引起了华盛顿的恐慌：中国还在以令世界其他地区相形见绌的速度建设新的燃煤电厂，燃煤是化石燃料中污染最严重的一种。

China accounts for a third of the world’s energy-related greenhouse gas emissions — more than North America, Central America, South America, Europe and Africa combined.

中国的温室气体排放量占全球能源相关排放量的三分之一，超过了北美、中美洲、南美洲、欧洲和非洲的总和。

John Kerry, President Biden’s special envoy for climate change, is preparing to host his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, for talks starting on Friday at the Sunnylands estate in Southern California, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition on anonymity to discuss planning details. President Barack Obama and Xi Jinping, China’s leader, began a joint push for climate action a decade ago at Sunnylands.

据两位知情人士透露，拜登总统的气候问题特使克里正准备接待中国气候变化特使解振华，双方将于周五在南加州的桑尼兰德庄园举行会谈。由于讨论计划细节，这两位知情人士要求匿名。十年前，奥巴马总统和中国领导人习近平曾在桑尼兰德庄园开始共同推动气候行动。

“Sunnylands is a symbolic place — it’s where the first U.S.-China climate seeds were planted,” said Li Shuo, a policy adviser for Greenpeace East Asia.

“桑尼兰德是一个具有象征意义的地方——中美气候合作在这里播下了第一粒种子，”绿色和平东亚分部政策顾问李硕说。

Two weeks later, climate will most likely be on the agenda when Mr. Biden is expected to meet Mr. Xi in San Francisco at the summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation countries. Then world leaders will gather in Dubai at the start of December for COP28, the latest round of global climate negotiations.

两周后，拜登预计将与习近平在旧金山举行的亚太经济合作组织国家峰会上会面，届时气候问题很可能会被提上议事日程。随后，世界各国领导人将于12月初齐聚迪拜，参加最新一轮全球气候谈判——COP28。

It’s not an exaggeration to say the health of the planet depends on the actions of the United States and China. The United States has pumped the most carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the past two centuries, and China is the current largest polluter. Their willingness to slash emissions will essentially determine whether the planet continues to dangerously heat up, leading to the disappearance of coral reefs, ice-free Arctic summers and widespread displacement from intensified storms, floods and wildfires.

毫不夸张地说，地球的健康取决于美国和中国的行动。在过去的两个世纪里，美国向大气中排放的二氧化碳最多，而中国是目前最大的污染者。它们削减排放的意愿将从根本上决定地球是否会继续危险升温，导致珊瑚礁消失、北极夏季无冰，以及因风暴、洪水和野火加剧而导致的大范围流离失所。

But more than ever, decisions made in Beijing could outweigh those made in Washington or European capitals.

但是，中国政府做出的决定可能比美国和欧洲各国政府的决定都更重要。

“China’s annual emissions are so massive that cutting them is now the key to any hope of preventing global temperature spikes and climate disasters,” said Paul Bledsoe, a former Clinton administration climate official.

“中国的年排放量如此之大，现在减排是防止全球气温飙升和气候灾难的关键，”克林顿政府的气候官员保罗·布莱索表示。

In Shandong Province, a peninsular hub of heavy industry between Beijing and Shanghai, China’s energy decisions are plainly visible. Solar panels interspersed with immense wind turbines stretch into the distance on the province’s north coast. More wind turbines and solar panels festoon hillsides and cornfields in the interior. On rooftops and sometime the south-facing walls of apartment towers, solar panel installations soak up the sun’s energy.

在位于北京和上海之间的重工业中心半岛山东省，中国的能源决策清晰可见。在该省的北海岸，太阳能电池板与巨大的风力涡轮机交替出现，一直延伸到远处。在内陆，山坡和玉米地上分布着更多的风力涡轮机和太阳能电池板。在公寓楼的屋顶和一些朝南的墙壁上，太阳能电池板装置吸收着太阳的能量。

Solar power producers in Shandong generate so much electricity at midday, exceeding demand, that they sometimes have to pay the provincial transmission grid to accept it. They do so to continue collecting government subsidies based on how many kilowatt-hours they produce.

山东的太阳能发电企业在中午时分生产大量电力，超出需求，因此它们有时不得不付钱给省级输电网来接收这些电能。这样做是为了继续获得政府按照发电量发放的补贴。

In some ways, China has come further in addressing climate change than almost anyone expected several years ago. Mr. Xi announced in December 2020 that China planned to triple its wind and solar capacity by 2030. China is on track to reach that target by the end of next year, said Frank Haugwitz, a solar industry consultant who specializes in China’s data.

在某些方面，中国在应对气候变化方面取得的进展超过了几年前几乎所有人的预期。习近平在2020年12月宣布，中国计划到2030年将风能和太阳能发电能力提高两倍。专门研究中国数据的太阳能行业顾问弗兰克·豪格维茨说，中国有望在明年年底前实现这一目标。

Chinese officials could announce greater renewable energy ambitions as they approach the existing target. American officials, however, are more concerned with China’s coal development, and are unlikely to praise new clean energy pledges that are not paired with aggressive measures to curb carbon dioxide emissions.

在接近现有目标的同时，中国官员可能会宣布更大的可再生能源目标。然而，美国官员更关心的是中国的煤炭发展，在中国没有同时采取积极措施遏制二氧化碳排放的情况下，他们不太可能赞扬那些新清洁能源承诺。

Because of China’s size, its solar and wind power may not be enough to address climate change if it doesn’t turn away from coal, climate experts say.

气候专家表示，由于中国幅员辽阔，如果不放弃对煤炭的依赖，其太阳能和风能的发展可能不足以应对气候变化。

“You’d be insane if you’re trying to advance this cause globally not to be focused on coal,” Mr. Kerry said in Beijing this summer.

“在不强调燃煤的情况下试图推进这一全球事业无异于痴人说梦，”克里今夏在北京表示。

Mr. Kerry has said the United States and China agreed that countries should be reducing coal at a faster rate, but not on how fast it should be done.

克里说过，中美两国一致认为各国应以更快的速度减少煤炭消耗，但没有讨论具体应以多快的速度进行。

Chinese officials have defended the coal-fired plants as needed for national energy security. The country imports most of its oil and natural gas but has the largest coal reserves.

中国官员辩称，捍卫国家能源安全需要火电厂的存在。该国大部分石油和天然气都依靠进口，但拥有最大的煤炭储量。

China contends that its coal plants are designed to minimize overall emissions and make it possible for China to use more renewable energy. The government requires that new coal-fired plants no longer be built to run only at essentially full capacity. They must also have the capacity to ramp their electricity generation up and down to offset surges and dips in renewable energy. China has also retrofitted almost all older power plants to allow similar flexibility, said Zhang Jianyu, the executive director of the BRI International Green Development Institute, an environmental group in Beijing.

中国声称建设火电厂是为了最大限度地减少整体的排放量，并让利用更多可再生能源成为可能。换而言之就是政府要求新建的火电厂不再只能满负荷运行。它们还必须具备加大和减少发电量的能力，以抵消可再生能源使用的增长和下降。北京环保组织“一带一路”绿色发展国际研究院执行院长张建宇表示，中国还对几乎所有老式电厂进行了改造，以实现类似的灵活性。

China has also invested heavily over the last few years in transmission to connect more parts of the country to its solar farms and wind turbines. In August, the most recent month data is available, 97.8 percent of the electricity generated by wind and 98.8 percent of the solar energy was used — indications that China is deploying its renewable energy effectively.

过去几年，中国还在输电系统上大力投入，将全国更多地区接入太阳能发电场和风力涡轮机的发电网络。今年8月的最新数据显示，风电利用率和太阳能利用率分别达到97.8%和98.8%，这表明中国的可再生能源部署效率很高。

Nate Hultman, director of the Center for Global Sustainability at the University of Maryland, said it was critical for China to work on grid reliability — an issue that could determine whether China uses all the coal it has developed.

马里兰大学全球可持续发展中心主任内特·霍特曼表示，对中国来说，提高电网稳定性是关键，因为中国是否需要使用所有已开采的煤炭可能就将取决于此。

“If they know how to run their grids with high levels of renewables and improved efficiency, that will relieve some pressures on needing to use coal,” said Mr. Hultman, a former aide to Mr. Kerry. “The real outcome for climate depends on how you manage that grid.”

“如果他们知道如何使用大量可再生能源来保障电网的运行，并能提升效率，那对燃煤的需求压力就会得到一定缓解，”曾担任克里助手的霍特曼表示。“对气候产生的真正效果取决于如何管理这个电网。”

On the western outskirts of Weifang, a town in northern Shandong, the Minghui Photovoltaic Power Generation Company and other nearby solar providers were ordered to halt new installations for at least three months while the grid catches up, said a manager at the company who agreed to speak only if identified by his surname, Wu.

山东潍坊市的西部郊区，明辉光伏发电的一位要求仅具姓氏的吴经理透露，该公司和附近的其他太阳能供应商被勒令停止装新机至少三个月时间，以等待电网接入进度的跟进。

Geography and weather patterns pose challenges for China in reducing coal use. Most of the country’s large, energy-thirsty cities are in areas where wind is minimal. That makes solar generation and efficient transmission from other regions crucial.

地理和气候给中国减少燃煤带来了挑战。该国大部分能源需求旺盛的大城市都地处风力极少的地区，这使得太阳能发电和从其他地区的高效输电变得至关重要。

By contrast, the coastline is windy.

相较之下，沿海地区风力较大。

In Weifang, which hosts international kite-flying contests, hundreds of wind turbines stand in tidal pools along the city’s 70-mile seashore. Building turbines miles out to sea, as Europe has done, has been hard for China because much of the seafloor is soft and muddy.

潍坊是国际风筝比赛的举办地，沿着该市约110公里长的海岸线，数以百计的风力涡轮机就伫立潮汐池中。因为大部分海底都松软泥泞，中国很难像欧洲那样在很远的海上建造涡轮机。

One reason for China’s rapid deployment of renewable energy is favorable zoning laws and public support. Approvals for renewable energy are quickly issued, in contrast with often lengthy procedures in the United States, where one county scheduled 19 nights of meetings to debate a single wind farm.

中国能快速部署可再生能源的原因之一是有利的土地使用区划法律以及公众的支持。可再生能源项目很快就能得到批准，而在美国，审批程序往往十分冗长，有个县仅仅为了建设一处风电场就开了19个晚上的会。

Sharp improvements in air quality in China have also helped build public support for renewable energy — although scientists say more stringent pollution limits on factories, boilers and vehicles have played a central role in scrubbing the country’s air. From 2013 to 2021, China reduced fine particle pollutants by 42 percent, according to a University of Chicago analysis of satellite photos.

中国空气质量的大幅改善也帮助争取到了公众对可再生能源的支持，尽管科学家表示，对工厂、锅炉和车辆实施更严格的污染限制在改善空气质量方面发挥了核心作用。根据芝加哥大学的卫星图片分析，从2013年到2021年，中国的细颗粒污染物减少了42%。

Zhu Peng, a fertilizer saleswoman who went fishing on a recent morning on a Weifang beach, said she welcomed the wind turbines looming nearby.

化肥销售员朱彭（音）最近一天早上到潍坊的海滩边钓鱼，她很乐于看到附近巍然耸立的风力涡轮机。

“For us, this is the scenery,” she said. “I don’t think it’s disturbing at all. Otherwise, we can see nothing but water and rocks.

“对于我们来说，这里就是风景，”她说。“不感觉它碍事，不然光秃秃能看到啥，除了水就是石头。”