Climate talks promise action

气候谈判能否一言九鼎?

导读：有人说气候变化离我们很远;有人说气候变化和我关系不大;有人说气候变化只是一场国与国之间的博弈……人类应对气候变化已23年了，却一直在责任和份额上打嘴仗。这是一场没有胜利者的战争，因为气候变化的最终受害者是全人类。

Over the past 23 years, the entire world has been looking for a common response to climate change. Now a new hope has emerged.

过去的23年里，全世界都在寻找共同应对气候变化的办法。现在新的希望已经显露。

From Nov 30 to Dec 11, the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference is being held in Paris, France. Over 190 countries want to reach the world’s first binding, global deal on climate change at the meeting. They hope to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, like CO2, which lead the planet to warm up. They aim to prevent world temperatures from rising by over 2 C compared to pre-industrial levels.

11月30-12月11日，2015年联合国气候变化大会在法国巴黎举办。190多个国家希望能在本次会议上达成第一个具有约束力的全球气候变化协议。各国希望减少排放导致全球变暖的温室气体，如二氧化碳。他们的目标是：相对于工业革命前水平，阻止全球气温上升超过2摄氏度。

Above the 2 C threshold, the world would suffer the adverse effects of climate change, including increased flooding and droughts.

一旦超过2摄氏度的门槛，地球将会遭受气候变化导致的不利影响，包括洪水和干旱。

The world began to tackle climate change in 1992, when countries agreed on the need to curb emissions. The first legally binding deal to cut emissions was the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, but it only applied to developed countries.

世界各国早在1992年就开始应对气候变化了，当时他们就控制温室气体排放达成了一致。1997年通过的《京都议定书》是第一部具有法律约束力的减排协议，不过它只适用于发达国家。

The Kyoto Protocol will expire in 2020, so the world has to reach a new, global deal that covers all countries after 2020. Many conferences have been held, but no deal was reached. The biggest reason is that developed and developing countries were at loggerheads over who will bear the most responsibility and who will cut how much.

《京都议定书》将于2020年到期，所以各国亟需在2020年后达成包括所有国家在内、新的全球协议。迄今为止虽然举行了多次会议，但各方仍未达成协议。最主要的原因是，发达国家和发展中国家关于谁要承担更多责任和减排多少各执一词。

Will this conference lead to a deal? Zhang Haibin, a professor from Peking University, is optimistic. This is because big carbon-emitting countries, which are responsible for 90 percent of emissions, already committed themselves to cuts before the meeting. China says its emissions will peak in 2030, while the US will cut emissions by about 26 percent from the 2005 levels.

本次大会能达成协议吗?北京大学教授张海滨对此持乐观态度。因为占全球碳排放总量90%的排放大国都已在会前承诺会减排。中国表示将在2030年达到碳排放高峰，而美国则承诺在2005年的基础上减排26%。

However, even if a deal is reached and everyone sticks to their reduction plan, the temperature will rise by 2.7 to 3 C by 2100, said the UN.

然而联合国称，就算能达成新的协议，各国也贯彻了它们的减排计划，到2100年，全球气温还将升高2.7-3摄氏度。

But “if countries do nothing we could see temperature rises of 5 degrees. That is about the same temperature difference between the temperatures we have now and the temperatures on the planet during the last ice age over 12,000 years ago,” said The Irish Times.

不过，《爱尔兰时报》说：“如果各国袖手旁观，地球将升温5摄氏度。我们现在与12,000年前末次冰河期的温差也不过如此。”