2020年经济学人 航空公司与气候(2)

In fact, the two-year average was expressly designed to account for low-emission years —a lesson learned from an early attempt to set the baseline in 2010, which was thwarted¹ by the eruption² of Eyjafjallajokull, an Icelandic volcano which grounded flights in Europe.

事实上，取两年平均值是特意为了考虑到低排放年份—这是从2010年早期基准值设定的尝试中吸取的教训，当时冰岛埃亚菲亚德拉火山喷发，导致欧洲航班停飞。

Another complaint is that many of the offsets⁴ airlines can buy are ineffective. A report in November last year by the New- Climate Institute and the Stockholm Environment Institute, two think-tanks, found that 80% of CORSIA’s potential offsets are unlikely to have any additional benefit to the climate. Since then ICAO has, to its credit, limited the availability of junk offsets in the scheme, though green campaigners say it has not gone far enough.

另一个抱怨是，航空公司可购买的许多碳抵消都没有产生效果。智库新气候机构和斯德哥尔摩环境研究所在去年11月发布了一份报告，报告显示80%的CORSIA计划中售卖的碳抵消不大可能会对气候有任何益处。值得称赞的是，从那时起，ICAO限制了该计划中无用碳抵消的可购买性，不过环保人士表示，这还不够。

Offsets’ bargain prices also suggest something is amiss. In 2018 the average price in the “voluntary market” (outside of mandated⁵ schemes) was $3 per tonne of CO2, about a sixth of the carbon price in the EU emissions⁶-trading scheme. Last year EasyJet, a British low-cost carrier, announced plans to offset³ all its annual emissions. This will cost it a footling $32m. New offest projects created in anticipation⁷ of CORSIA boosted supply, which is expected to be four times higher than demand.

抵消公司的廉价价格也表明出了问题。2018年，“自愿市场”（强制性计划之外）的平均价格为每吨二氧化碳3美元，约为欧盟排放交易计划中碳价格的六分之一。去年，英国一家低成本航空公司EasyJet宣布了抵消其全年排放量的计划。这将使该公司损失无足轻重的3200万美元。预计CORSIA计划中新设计的碳抵消计划将增加供应，预计供应量将是需求量的4倍。

Industry executives claim that the original baseline would have imposed crippling costs. That seems overblown. Sparse⁸ coverage⁹ and the cheap offsets mean the cost to the industry is low. Assuming an offset price of $5 per tonne of CO2, Mr Rutherford estimates the change in the baseline will save airlines $350m a year. That is less than 1% of the forecast operating cashflow in 2021 for a panel of 37 listed airlines.

航空业高管声称，最初的基准会增加巨大的成本。这似乎言过其实了。稀疏的覆盖范围和廉价的抵消价格意味着航空业的成本很低。假设抵消价格为每吨二氧化碳5美元，卢瑟福估计，基准线的改变将每年为航空公司节省3.5亿美元。这还不到37家上市航空公司预测的2021年运营现金流的1%。

Forgoing¹⁰ those savings¹¹ would have been a small price to pay for burnishing¹² airlines’ reputations as they seek billions in government bail-outs. Accusations¹³ of greenwashing will make calls to attach potentially much costlier¹⁴ green strings¹⁵ to the rescue packages grow louder.

在航空公司向政府寻求数十亿美元纾困之际，放弃这些节省下来的开支，以微薄的代价来赚取好名声，也不错。“绿色环保”的指责将使要求在援助方案中附加昂贵的环保条件的呼声越来越高。

1 thwarted   

阻挠( thwart的过去式和过去分词 )； 使受挫折； 挫败； 横过

参考例句：

• The guards thwarted his attempt to escape from prison. 警卫阻扰了他越狱的企图。
• Our plans for a picnic were thwarted by the rain. 我们的野餐计划因雨受挫。

2 eruption   

n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作

参考例句：

• The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
• The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。

3 offset   

n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿

参考例句：

• Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
• He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。

4 offsets   

n.开端( offset的名词复数 )；出发v.抵消( offset的第三人称单数 )；补偿；（为了比较的目的而）把…并列（或并置）；为（管道等）装支管

参考例句：

• The following paragraphs deal with intra-source offsets and the so-called \"bubble\" concept. 下面讨论污染源内部的补偿和所谓的“泡泡”概念。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• The preceding paragraphs were concerned with inter-source offsets. 前文牵涉到污染源之间的补偿。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

5 mandated   

adj. 委托统治的

参考例句：

• Mandated desegregation of public schools. 命令解除公立学校中的种族隔离
• Britain was mandated to govern the former colony of German East Africa. 英国受权代管德国在东非的前殖民地。

6 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

7 anticipation   

n.预期，预料，期望

参考例句：

• We waited at the station in anticipation of her arrival.我们在车站等着，期待她的到来。
• The animals grew restless as if in anticipation of an earthquake.各种动物都变得焦躁不安，像是感到了地震即将发生。

8 sparse   

adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的

参考例句：

• The teacher's house is in the suburb where the houses are sparse.老师的家在郊区，那里稀稀拉拉有几处房子。
• The sparse vegetation will only feed a small population of animals.稀疏的植物只够喂养少量的动物。

9 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

10 forgoing   

v.没有也行，放弃( forgo的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Everything, in short, is produced at the expense of forgoing something else. 总之，每一种东西的生产，都得以牺牲放弃某些其他东西为代价。 来自互联网
• These aren't the only ones forgoing the morning repast, of course. 当然，他们并不是放弃早餐的唯一几个。 来自互联网

11 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

12 burnishing   

n.磨光，抛光，擦亮v.擦亮（金属等），磨光( burnish的现在分词 )；被擦亮，磨光

参考例句：

• Taps, reamers, drills, saws, milling cutters, burnishing tools, and so on, have all been successfully plated. 丝锥、铰刀、钻头、锯片、铣切刀具、磨光工具以及其它等等，所有这些方面的片镀都是很成功的。 来自辞典例句
• Pure white was obtained by entirely effacing burnishing the plate. 光白部份则把芒刺激完全磨去。 来自互联网

13 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

14 costlier   

adj.昂贵的( costly的比较级 )；代价高的；引起困难的；造成损失的

参考例句：

• Alligator skin is five times more costlier than leather. 鳄鱼皮比通常的皮革要贵5倍。 来自互联网
• Disagreements among creditors can be costlier still. 债权人之间的分歧会加大重组的费用。 来自互联网

15 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。