2023年2月9日 星期四

How to Hand Out Billions in Climate Subsidies? Very Carefully. 拜登政府將謹慎處理氣候補貼金發放


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紐時周報精選 How to Hand Out Billions in Climate Subsidies? Very Carefully. 拜登政府將謹慎處理氣候補貼金發放
The Next Epoch Of Planet Earth Might Be Today 地球或已處於全新地質年代:人類世
紐時周報精選
 
How to Hand Out Billions in Climate Subsidies? Very Carefully. 拜登政府將謹慎處理氣候補貼金發放
文/Lisa Friedman
譯/陳韋廷

拜登政府將謹慎處理氣候補貼金發放

John Podesta, President Joe Biden's clean energy adviser, said the administration was working to ensure that a record $370 billion in new federal subsidies for electric vehicles, wind farms, batteries and other clean energy technologies is spent properly and avoids waste and abuse.

美國總統拜登的清潔能源顧問波德斯塔說,政府正努力確保創紀錄3700億美元的聯邦新補貼計畫,妥善的用於電動車、風電場、電池跟其他清潔能源技術,避免浪費和濫用。

Podesta said the White House would issue tax code guidelines by early next year to speed the delivery of the money and was meeting with inspectors general from across the federal government to get advice on ways to safeguard against fraud.

波德斯塔說,白宮將在明年年初前發布稅法指引,以加快資金發放,並跟聯邦政府各部門監察長會面,針對如何防止弊端獲得建議。

The internal watchdog at the Department of Energy, one of several agencies that is receiving an influx of money under the Inflation Reduction Act, has already warned that Secretary Jennifer Granholm's office does not have enough resources to properly monitor all the programs that will be created.

能源部是據「降低通膨法」獲得大量資金的幾個機構之一。能源部的內部監督機構已警告,部長葛蘭霍姆的辦公室沒有足夠資源來妥善監督所有即將創立的計畫。

Under the new law, the Department of Energy budget will grow from $45.3 billion to more than $100 billion in funds and $336 billion in loan authority. Another new law, the CHIPS and Science Act, will pump an additional $30.5 billion into the department.

根據新法律,能源部預算將從453億美元增加至超過1000億美元,以及3360億美元的貸款授權。另一項新法律「晶片與科學法」將為能源部額外注入305億美元。

Republicans, who will take control of the House in January, have suggested that they will investigate the Biden administration's handling of the flood of tax rebates, loans and incentives under the landmark climate and tax law.

將於明年1月掌控眾議院的共和黨人說,他們將調查拜登政府如何根據這項具里程碑意義的氣候與稅務法,處理大量退稅、貸款與獎勵措施。

Podesta, who is responsible for overseeing the disbursement of the money, said complex rules expected from the Internal Revenue Service and other agencies would clarify who qualifies for various incentives and how the money will be doled out.

負責監督這筆錢發放的波德斯塔說,預計美國國稅局與其他機構將推出複雜規定,確定哪些人有資格獲得獎勵,以及這筆錢如何發放。

The federal dollars will be consequential to unleashing trillions of dollars in private-sector energy investments, he said.

他表示,這些聯邦資金將引發私人部門釋放數兆美元的能源投資。

"I've spent a fair amount of time listening to people who are anxious to invest in the United States as a result of this legislation and are preparing business plans assuming that those tax credits will have certainty," Podesta said. He said the agencies were "on track" and would begin to issue official guidance "by the end of the year and early next year."

波德斯塔說:「我花了相當多時間,傾聽因這項立法急於在美投資的人們意見,他們正準備營運計畫,並假定這些稅收抵免確定施行。」他表示,各機構正「按部就班」,並將在「年底跟明年初前」發布官方指引。

On Thursday, the White House made public a guidebook meant to help companies and consumers as well as state, local and tribal governments navigate the new law. Podesta said his aim was to create a road map that would especially help communities that disproportionately face pollution and climate hazards to take full advantage of the tax incentives.

白宮周四公布一份指引,目的是要幫助企業、消費者以及各州、地方與部落政府了解這項新法律。波德斯塔說,他的目標是擘劃一個路線圖,尤其要協助嚴重面臨汙染及氣候危害的社區,充分利用稅收獎勵措施。

 
The Next Epoch Of Planet Earth Might Be Today 地球或已處於全新地質年代:人類世
文/Raymond Zhong
譯/陳韋廷

地球或已處於全新地質年代:人類世

The official timeline of Earth's history could soon include the age of nuclear weapons, human-caused climate change and the proliferation of plastics, garbage and concrete across the planet.

地球歷史的正式時間表可能很快就會包括核武時代、人為造成的氣候變遷以及塑膠、垃圾和混凝土在地球上的擴散。

In short, the present.

簡言之,就在現在。

Ten thousand years after our species began forming primitive agrarian societies, a panel of scientists on Saturday took a big step toward declaring a new interval of geologic time: the Anthropocene, the age of humans.

在人類開始形成原始農業社會一萬年後,一個科學家小組周六朝著宣布一個新的地質年代區間邁出一大步:人類世,即人類的年代。

Our current geologic epoch, the Holocene, began 11,700 years ago with the end of the last big ice age. The panel's roughly three dozen scholars appear close to recommending that, actually, we have spent the past few decades in a brand-new time unit, one characterized by human-induced, planetary-scale changes that are unfinished but very much underway.

我們目前的地質年代,也就是全新世,始於1萬1700年前最後一個大冰河時代的結束。該小組大約36位學者顯然即將建議,事實上過去幾十年我們一直處在一個全新的時間單位中,其特徵為人類所引起、尚未完成但正在進行的行星尺度變化。

"If you were around in 1920, your attitude would have been, 'Nature's too big for humans to influence,'" said Colin N. Waters, a geologist and chair of the Anthropocene Working Group, the panel that has been deliberating on the issue since 2009. The past century has upended that thinking, Waters said. "It's been a shock event, a bit like an asteroid hitting the planet."

地質學家兼人類世工作小組主席沃特斯說:「若你身處1920年左右,你的態度會是『大自然太大了,人類無法影響』」。該小組自2009年來一直在思考這個問題。沃特斯表示,過去一個世紀顛覆了這種想法,「這是個令人震驚的事件,有點像小行星撞擊地球。」

The working group's members on Saturday completed the first in a series of internal votes on details including when exactly they believe the Anthropocene began. Once these votes are finished, which could be by spring, the panel will submit its final proposal to three other committees of geologists whose votes will either make the Anthropocene official or reject it.

工作小組成員周六完成關於細節的一系列內部投票中的第一場,其中包括他們認為人類世的確切開始時間。這些投票完成後,可能是在春季,該小組將向其他三個地質學家委員會提交最終提案,他們的投票不是讓人類世變為正式名稱,就是予以否決。

Sixty percent of each committee will need to approve the group's proposal for it to advance to the next. If it fails in any of them, the Anthropocene might not have another chance to be ratified for years.

該小組提案在每個委員會都需要有60%的人批准,才能進入下一個委員會。若在其中任何一個闖關失敗,人類世可能在數年內都沒機會獲得批准。

If it makes it all the way, though, geology's amended timeline would officially recognize that humankind's effects on the planet had been so consequential as to bring the previous chapter of Earth's history to a close. It would acknowledge that these effects will be discernible in the rocks for millenniums.

不過,如果一切順利,經過修訂的地質年代表將正式承認,人類對地球影響是如此重大,導致地球歷史的上一章遭到終結。它將承認,這些影響將在幾千年的岩石中明顯可見。

"I teach the history of science — you know, Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo," said Francine McCarthy, an earth scientist at Brock University in Canada and member of the working group. "We're actually doing it," she said. "We're living the history of science."

加拿大布魯克大學地球科學家、工作小組成員法蘭欣.麥卡錫說:「我教科學史,也就是我們聽過的哥白尼、克卜勒、伽利略。」她說:「我們實際上正在寫歷史。我們活在科學史中。」

 

 
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