Renewable Energy Targets: A green red herring 再生能源目标：用绿色来转移注意力

The goal should be to curb global warming, not to achieve 100% renewable energy. 目标应该是遏制全球变暖，而不是实现100%的可再生能源。

Not that long ago, the world wondered whether clean energy could survive without lavish government support. 在不久前，人们想知道在没有政府的大力支持下，清洁能源是否能存活下来。

Now the question is how far it can spread. 现在的问题是清洁能源的应用范围能扩散到多远。

The number of electric vehicles, which breached 1m in 2015, last year reached 2m;  在2015年，电动车的数量达到了100万，去年达到了200万。

countries like France and firms like Volvo are looking ahead to the demise of the internal combustion engine. 像法国这样的国家和像沃尔沃这样的公司正在展望内燃机的消亡。

In electricity generation, too, momentum is with the greens. 在发电上也是如此，动力与环保相结合。

In June the Chinese province of Qinghai ran for seven consecutive days on renewable energy alone;  六月时，中国的青海省连续七天都只靠清洁能源。

in the first half of this year wind, solar and hydro generated a record 35% of Germany's power. 在今年的上半年，风能，太阳能和水利能发电创纪录地占了德国电力的35%.

Greater success is breeding greater ambition. 更大的成功孕育更大的野心。

California is proposing to reach 60% renewable energy by 2030; 176 countries have clean-energy goals. 加利福尼亚提议在2030年时可再生能源将达到60%，176个国家有着清洁能源的目标。

Hawaii, America's most oil-dependent state, has pledged to be 100% renewable by the middle of the century. 美国最依赖石油的州，夏威夷，保证在这个世纪中叶将100%使用可再生能源。

So have 48 poor countries vulnerable to climate change. 所以只有48个贫穷国家易受气候变化的影响。

This week the number of multinationals making a commitment to running their operations on 100% renewable energy rose to 100. 本周，承诺将100%使用可再生能源运营其业务的跨国公司增至100家。

Even if such targets are never met, they galvanize effort. 虽然这些目标绝不会实现，但是他们激发了人们的努力。

They also provide reassurance about long-term climate policy, despite reversals such as America's withdrawal from the Paris agreement. 他们还提供关于长期气候政策的保证，尽管出现过如美国退出巴黎协定等一些反转情况。

The resulting economies of scale help bring down the costs of wind and solar projects. 由此产生的规模经济有助于降低风能和太阳能项目的成本。

But not every target is helpful. 但是并非每一个目标都是有益的。

To see why, consider that goal of 100% renewable energy. It makes solving climate change seem deceptively easy. 这是为什么呢？考虑到100%的可再生能源的目标使得解决气候变化看起来过于简单。

In fact, though wind and solar can generate all a country's electricity on some days, renewables still account for less than 8% of the world's total power output. 实际上，虽然风能和太阳能可以在几天之内可以产出一个国家所有的用电，但是可再生能源依然占世界总电力输出量少于8%。