Slowly but surely, climate change is taking a prominent placein the rich world’s political debates. Extinction Rebellionprotests, backed by hedge-fund managers and barristers as well as students and celebrities, shut down parts of London for several days this month. The Green Party is now the second-most popular political force in Germany and the main opposition party. Some 57% of Americans, and 84% of self-declared Democrats, say climate change is a big threat.
过程虽然缓慢，但可以肯定的是，气候变化正在富裕国家的政治辩论中占据重要的位置。在对冲基金经理们和大律师们以及学生和名人的支持下，“反抗灭绝”组织的抗议活动让部分伦敦街区陷入停摆。绿党（The Green Party）现在是德国和主要反对党中第二受欢迎的政治力量。约57％的美国人和84％自称是民主党人的人表示，气候变化对我们是一个巨大的威胁。
take a prominent place 占据，处于重要的位置
Extinction Rebellion “反抗灭绝”，一个环保组织的名字。
self-declared 自称的.... 注意self可与其他单词组成合成词，表示与“自我相关的”，举几个例子：self-control 自我控制 self-taught 自学的
As public opinion shifts, politicians are reacting by adopting new policies. One of the most popular is to set targets to reach “net zero” carbon emissions within a defined geographical border. These targets have plenty going for them. They are easy to understand, galvanising and will spur countries to shift their energy mix towards renewables. They also have two drawbacks. One stems from the word “net”. Net zero means taking as much carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere as you put in, and this requires assumptions about as yet unproven ways of subtracting that carbon from the atmosphere. The other is that, because they ignore the impact of trade, such targets typically undercount the emissions for which rich countries are responsible. Countries and cities tackling climate change need to make their assumptions more transparent and take a more holistic view of their carbon footprint.
随着舆论的转变，政客们正在采取新的
政策来做出应对。最受欢迎的方法之一就是设定目标，以在可定义的地理边界内实现“净
碳排放为零”。这些目标对他们有很大帮助。它们易于理解，实用，将刺激各国将其能源结构转向可再生能源。它们也有两个缺点。一个缺点源自于“净（net）”一词。净零表示要从大气中吸收尽可能多的已排入的二氧化碳，而这需要对尚未验证可行的从大气去碳的方法进行假设。另一个缺点是，由于这些目标忽略了贸易的影响，因此通常低估了富裕国家所负责的排放量。应对气候变化的国家和城市需要使他们的假设更加透明，并更加全面地看待其
碳足迹。
public opinion shifts public opinion公众舆论，shift表示舆论风向的改变。
也可以用turn，不过shift是比较常见的用法。后面可以接in favor of .... 表示舆论向有利的方向转变。
Opinion is shifting in favor of the President's new policy.
舆论正朝着有利于总统新政策的方向转变。
net zero净零，net在这里做形容词。eg. net income/earnings (= after tax has been paid) 纯收入
undercount 少算了，少计入。
carbon footprint 碳足迹。碳足迹指的是由企业机构、活动、产品或个人引起的温室气体排放的集合。温室气体排放渠道主要有：
交通运输、食品生产和消费、能源使用以及各类生产过程。通常所有温室气体排放用二氧化碳当量（
）来表示。
Around the world more than 60 countries and 100 cities have adopted, or promised to adopt, targets that will take them to net zero, typically by around 2050. The majority of the signatories are European countries, small island states, or rich cities or regions. This summer Britain and France became the first big economies to enshrine targets into law. The state of New York quickly followed. The idea is so popular that airports, shopping malls, offices and even rock concerts are rushing to join the club.
全世界有60多个国家和100个城市都采用了，或承诺采用了这个目标：到2050年左右它们将让碳排放达到零净值。大多数签署国是欧洲国家，小岛国或富裕城市或地区 。今年夏天，英国和法国成为第一个将这个目标纳入法律的大经济体。 美国的纽约州也紧随其后。这个想法是如此受欢迎，以至于机场，购物中心，办公室甚至摇滚音乐会都在争先恐后地加入这场行动。
enshrine .... into law 把.....载入法律
But most net-zero targets refer only to the carbon produced within the target-setting entity’s borders. They exclude the carbon that is related to goods consumed there but produced elsewhere. When a Briton buys a smartphone made in a Chinese factory that is powered by a coal plant the carbon emitted in its manufacture does not count as “British.
但是，大多数零排放的目标仅是指在目标设定的实体边界内产生的碳。它们不包括与在某个地方被消费，但在其他地方生产的商品所相关的碳排放。当英国人购买在中国工厂生产的由燃煤电厂供电的智能手机时，其制造过程中排放的碳不算作是“英国”的。
coal plant 燃煤电厂
What to do? The worst approach would be an indiscriminate backlash against cross-border commerce. This is because the carbon footprint of trade varies according to the provenance of individual products. For example, a medium-sized electric-car battery made in Sweden, which uses lots of renewable energy, emits 350kg of carbon dioxide. The same battery made in Poland, which relies on coal, emits over 8,000kg. The mode of transport matters, too—goods that are transported by aircraft are far dirtier than those carried on ships.
那么我们该怎么办？最糟糕的方法是全盘地反对跨境贸易。这是因为贸易的碳足迹因其单个产品的来源而不同。 例如，瑞典制造的中型电动汽车的电池使用大量可再生能源，排放350千克二氧化碳。 波兰用煤炭制造的相同的电池排放超过8,000千克二氧化碳。运输方式也很重要-飞机运输的货物比船上运输的货物排碳更多。
The world needs to shift towards goods that have a cleaner footprint, regardless of where they are produced. That will require manufacturing hubs to shift away from dirty sources of fuel such as coal, and fewer goods to be transported by air. A range of policies could accelerate this shift. At the gentle end of the spectrum, better labelling could prod consumers to consider the carbon footprint of what they buy. At the tougher end, the EU is considering a climate tax on dirty goods it imports. Today’s net-zero targets are better than nothing. But if climate change is to be tackled, countries and consumers must take full responsibility for their carbon.
无论产品在何处生产，整个世界都需要转向使用更清洁碳足迹的商品。这就要求制造中心要远离肮脏的燃料来源，例如煤炭，并减少空运的货物。一系列政策可以加速这一转变。在这一系列行动的最后的末端，更好的标签可以促使消费者考虑他们所购买产品的碳足迹。在更艰难的一方面，欧盟正在考虑对其进口的碳足迹较脏的商品征收气候税。今天的零排放目标总比没有好。但是，如果要应对气候变化，国家和消费者必须对自己产出的碳负全部责任。
dirty goods 这里的dirty不是指真的脏东西，而是指生产过程中碳排放较多的所谓“脏”的产品。
