Last week I spent three fantastic days at the global climate summit (known as COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland. My main impression is how much things have changed since the last summit, back in 2015—and I don’t mean because of COVID. The climate conversation has shifted dramatically, and for the better.上周,我在苏格兰格拉斯哥举行的全球气候峰会(COP26)上度过了美妙的三天。我最大的感受就是,自2015年的上一次峰会以来,事情发生了巨大的变化——我并不是指新冠疫情的影响。气候对话发生了重大的转变,并朝着更好的方向发展。
One big shift is that clean-energy innovation is higher on the agenda than ever. The world needs to get to zero carbon emissions by 2050. As I argue in the book I published this year, accomplishing that will require a green Industrial Revolution in which we decarbonize virtually the entire physical economy: how we make things, generate electricity, move around, grow food, and cool and heat buildings. The world already has some of the tools we’ll need to do that, but we need a huge number of new inventions too.第一个重大转变是,清洁能源创新在议程上的地位比以往任何时候都更为重要。世界需要在2050年前实现净零碳排放。正如我在今年出版的书中所说,实现这一目标将需要一场绿色工业革命,以完成实体经济集体脱碳:(这涉及到)我们如何生产制造、发电、出行、种植食物以及为建筑制冷和供暖。这个世界上已经有了一些我们实现这一目标所需的工具,但我们还需要大量的新发明。
So at an event like this, one way I measure progress is by the way people are thinking about what it’ll take to reach zero emissions. Do they think we already have all the tools we need to get there? Or is there a nuanced view of the complexity of this problem, and the need for new, affordable clean technology that helps people in low- and middle-income countries raise their standard of living without making climate change worse?因此,在这样的气候大会上,我衡量进展的一种方法是看人们如何看待实现净零排放所需的努力。他们是否认为我们已经拥有了实现这一目标所需的所有工具?或者对于这个目标的复杂性,以及对新型、可负担的清洁技术的需求是否有细微的看法?这种技术将帮助中低收入国家人民提高生活水平而不会加剧气候变化。
Six years ago, there were more people on the we-have-what-we-need side than on the innovation side. This year, though, innovation was literally on center stage. One session of the World Leaders Summit, where I got to speak, was exclusively about developing and deploying clean technologies faster.六年前,站在“我们应有尽有”一边的人比站在创新一边的人多。但是今年,创新才是真正的主题。在世界领导人峰会的一次阶段性会议上,我有机会发言,专门谈论如何更快地开发和部署清洁技术。
I also helped launch the Net Zero World Initiative, a commitment from the U.S. government to help other countries get to zero by providing funding and—even more important—access to experts throughout the government, including the top minds at America’s world-class national laboratories. These countries will get support with planning the transition to a green economy, piloting new technologies, working with investors, and more. 我还帮助发起了“净零世界倡议”,这是美国政府的一项承诺,通过提供资金,更重要的是提供政府各部门的专家,以及美国世界级国家实验室的顶尖人才的沟通渠道,来帮助其他国家实现净零排放。这些国家将在规划向绿色经济转型、试验新技术、与投资者合作等方面获得支持。
The second major shift is that the private sector is now playing a central role alongside governments and nonprofits. In Glasgow, I met with leaders in various industries that need to be part of the transition—including shipping, mining, and financial services—who had practical plans to decarbonize and to support innovation. I saw CEOs of international banks really engaging with these issues, whereas many of them wouldn’t even have shown up a few years ago. (It made me wish we could get the same kind of turnout and excitement for conferences on global health!)第二个重大转变是,私营部门正在与政府和非营利组织一起发挥着核心作用。在格拉斯哥,我面见了需要参与转型的各个行业的领导人(包括航运、采矿和金融服务)他们制定了切实可行的脱碳和支持创新计划。我看到国际银行的首席执行官们真正参与讨论了这些问题,而几年前他们中的许多人甚至不会出现在气候会议上。(这让我希望我们能在全球健康会议上获得同样的参与度和兴奋度!)
I announced that three new partners—Citi, the IKEA Foundation, and State Farm—will be working with Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, a program designed to get the most promising climate technologies to scale much faster than would happen naturally. They’re joining the first round of seven partners we announced in September. It’s amazing to see how much momentum Catalyst has generated in just a few months.我宣布三个新的合作伙伴(花旗集团、宜家基金会和州立农业保险公司)将与突破能源催化剂项目合作,该项目旨在发展最有前景的气候技术,使其在原有基础上更快地扩大规模。这三位新合作伙伴将加入我们在9月宣布的第一轮七个合作伙伴的名单之中。我很惊讶看到催化剂项目在短短几个月内就发展地如此迅速。
I was also honored to join President Biden and his climate envoy, John Kerry, to announce that Breakthrough Energy will be the primary implementation partner for the First Movers Coalition. It’s a new initiative from the U.S. State Department and the World Economic Forum that will boost demand for emerging climate solutions in some of the sectors where it’ll be especially hard to eliminate emissions: aviation, concrete and steel production, shipping, and more. 我也很荣幸地与拜登总统和他的气候特使约翰·克里一道宣布,突破能源基金将成为“先行者联盟”的主要执行伙伴。这是美国国务院和世界经济论坛提出的一项新倡议,该倡议将促进一些非常难以实现净零排放的行业,如航空、混凝土和钢铁生产、航运等对于新兴气候解决方案的需求。
The third shift I’m seeing is that there’s even more visibility for climate adaptation. The worst tragedy of rising temperatures is that they will do the most harm to the people who have done the least to cause them. And if we don’t help people in low- and middle-income countries thrive despite the warming that is already under way, the world will lose the fight against extreme poverty. 我看到的第三个转变是,对气候适应的关注明显提高。气温上升的最大悲剧是,它会对那些对气温上升危害最小的人造成最大的伤害。如果我们不对那些中低收入国家的人民提供援手,让他们在已经开始变暖的情况下实现繁荣,那么世界抗击极端贫困的斗争终将失败。
So it was great to hear President Biden and other leaders repeatedly raising the importance of adaptation. I got to join the president, along with officials from the United Arab Emirates, to launch a program called Agricultural Innovation Mission for Climate. It’s designed to focus some of the world’s innovative IQ on ways to help the poorest people adapt, such as new varieties of crops that can withstand more droughts and floods. More than 30 other countries, as well as dozens of companies and nonprofits (including the Gates Foundation), are already supporting it. 因此,很高兴听到拜登总统和其他领导人反复强调气候适应的重要性。我和拜登总统以及来自阿拉伯联合酋长国的官员一起,启动了一项名为“气候农业创新使命”的项目。该项目旨在集中世界上一些创新能力进行研发,以帮助最贫穷的人群适应(气候变化),比如研发可以抵御更严重干旱和洪水的新品种作物。有30余个国家以及数十家公司和非营利组织(包括盖茨基金会)已经在支持这个项目。
As part of that effort, I joined a coalition of donors that pledged more than half a billion dollars to support the CGIAR’s work to advance climate-smart innovations for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.作为这项努力的一部分,我加入了一个捐助联盟,该联盟承诺提供5亿多美元,用以支持国际农业研究磋商组织(CGIAR)为撒哈拉以南非洲和南亚的小农户推进气候智能型创新的工作。
Some people look at the problems that still need to be solved and see the glass as half-empty. I don’t share that view, but this is what I would tell anyone who does: The glass is being filled up faster than ever. If we keep this up—if the world puts even more effort into innovations that reduce the cost of getting to zero and help the poorest people adapt to climate change—then we’ll be able to look back on this summit as an important milestone in avoiding a climate disaster.一些人看着这些亟待解决的问题,就像看着“半空的杯子”。我不同意这种观点,但我想告诉持这种观点的人:这个杯子正在以前所未有的速度被装满。如果我们继续推进下去——如果世界在创新方面投入更多努力,降低实现净零排放的成本,帮助最贫穷的人适应气候变化,那么,当我们回首往事时,这次峰会将成为避免气候灾难的一个重要里程碑。