本文转自《Vox》发表的题为“The Netherlands contemplates the world’s toughest climate law”的报道。

作者： David Roberts

日期：2018.07.08

原文链接：https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/7/6/17535720/netherlands-dutch-climate-law-paris-targets

A new Dutch proposal would put climate at the center of national politics.

荷兰的一项新提案将气候置于国家政治的中心。

荷兰总理Mark Rutte    Jack Taylor/盖蒂图片社

A coalition of seven Dutch political parties recently unveiled a climate policy proposal that is breathtaking in its ambition. If it becomes law, it will codify the most stringent targets for greenhouse gas reductions of any country in the world.

七个荷兰政党的联盟最近公布了一项气候政策提案，其目标令人叹为观止。 如果它成为法律，它将制定世界上任何国家最严格的温室气体减排目标。

There are still several steps between the proposal and passage, including debate in both houses of Parliament, and lawmakers may make changes. But given the broad political support — the parties involved control 113 of 150 seats in Parliament — it is widely expected to pass in something like its current form by late next summer.

提案和通过之间仍有几个步骤，包括议会两院的辩论，议员们可能会做出改变。 但鉴于广泛的政治支持 - 各政党控制着议会150个席位中的113个席位 - 人们普遍预计会在明年夏末之前颁布正式形式的内容。

It would be the world’s eighth national climate law (after the UK, Mexico, Denmark, Finland, France, Norway, and Sweden), but it boasts a few features that make it particularly notable.

这将是世界上第八个国家气候法（仅次于英国，墨西哥，丹麦，芬兰，法国，挪威和瑞典），但它拥有一些特别值得注意的特征。

It’s bipartisan! Or rather, heptapartisan.

这是两党合作！ 或者更确切地说，七组合。

Here in the US, we’ve grown depressingly accustomed to climate battles breaking down along partisan lines: Democrats push (inadequate) solutions; Republicans deny that the problem exists or that anything needs to be done about it.

在美国，我们已经习惯于按照党派界限进行的气候战争：民主党推动（不充分）解决方案：共和党人否认这一问题的存在，也否认有任何事情需要解决。

In contrast, the Dutch proposal is supported by a coalition of parties ranging from the far left to the center-right, together representing a large majority of seats in the Dutch Parliament. (One notable absence: the right-wing populist party, Party for Freedom, led by notorious Islamophobe Geert Wilders.) The current prime minister, Mark Rutte, leads the center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), which is one of the bill’s primary supporters.

相比之下，荷兰的提议得到了从最左边到中右边的政党联盟的支持，这些联盟代表了荷兰议会的绝大多数席位。 （一个值得注意的缺席：右翼民粹主义党，自由党，由臭名昭著的仇视伊斯兰的海尔特·威尔德斯领导）。现任总理 Mark Rutte 领导中右翼人民自由民主党（VVD），这是一个该法案的主要支持者。

荷兰议会，Carl Court/盖蒂图片社

The proposal represents a degree of social and political consensus that is almost unthinkable in the US — not only that climate change is “real” (an absurd debate only the US is having), but that it’s urgent and that national policy should support the goals agreed to in Paris. Those goals obligate developed countries like the Netherlands to virtually eliminate carbon emissions by mid-century.

该提案代表了一定程度的社会和政治共识，这在美国几乎是不可想象的 ——不仅气候变化是“真实的”（只有美国才有这种荒谬的辩论），而且这是紧迫的，国家政策应该支持这些以实现巴黎协定的目标。 这些目标要求像荷兰这样的发达国家在本世纪中叶几乎消除碳排放。

It would be like John McCain throwing his weight behind Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s climate policies.

这就像John McCain在亚历山大奥卡西奥 - 科尔特斯的气候政策背后所做的那样。

It’s ambitious AF!

If passed as proposed, the Dutch law would be the world’s most stringent, putting into statute the following targets:

如果该提议通过，荷兰法律将是世界上最严格的法律，将以下目标纳入法规：

• 49 percent reduction in greenhouse gases (relative to 1990 levels) by 2030
• 95 percent reduction by 2050
• 100 percent carbon-neutral electricity by 2050

到2030年，温室气体减少49％（相对于1990年的水平）

到2050年减少95％

到2050年，100％的碳中性电力

The targets are based on a report last year from the country’s environmental agency, which revealed that the Netherlands (like every other country on Earth) would not accomplish its portion of the Paris targets with current policy. Paris targets imply that all developed countries need to be at or near carbon-neutral by 2050.

这些目标基于去年该国环境机构的一份报告，该报告显示，荷兰（与地球上的其他所有国家一样）不会以现行政策完成巴黎目标的一部分。 巴黎的目标意味着到2050年所有发达国家都需要达到或接近碳中和。

Hitting these goals will involve a wide range of investments in everything from district heating to carbon sequestration. The new government has also committed to phasing out coal by 2030, which will mean shutting down three coal plants that only finished construction recently.

达到这些目标将涉及从区域供热到碳封存的各种投资。 新政府还承诺到2030年逐步淘汰煤炭，这将意味着关闭三个最近才完工的煤电厂。

It ensures climate will get ongoing attention

它确保气候将得到持续关注

Under the bill, every year, the Dutch Parliament and the Cabinet will discuss and debate the year’s progress toward decarbonization goals. With independent advice from the Council of State, they will adjust programs as necessary to stay on track, in something analogous to a yearly budgeting process.

根据该法案，荷兰议会和内阁每年都会讨论当年的脱碳目标进展情况。 在国务委员会的独立建议下，他们将根据需要调整计划，使其保持正常，类似于年度预算编制过程。

Then, on the fourth Thursday of October — “Climate Day” — the government will issue a public memorandum reviewing progress toward climate goals and laying out plans for the year ahead.

然后，在10月的第四个星期四 - “气候日” - 政府将发布公共备忘录，审查气候目标的进展情况，并制定未来一年的计划。

If nothing else, yearly reviews will keep climate in the forefront of Dutch politics, and in the public eye.

如果不出意外，年度审查将把气候置于荷兰政治的前沿，并引起公众的注意。

在德国汉堡的一场展览上，荷兰女王Maxima (是的，她的名字是)正注视着一台风力涡轮机。Christian Augustin/盖蒂图片社

Every five years, the climate law will be revised and updated, to ensure the country stays in alignment with Paris targets.

每五年，《气候变化法》都会被修订和更新，以确保国家与巴黎的目标保持一致。

It’s a miniature Paris agreement

这是一个小型的巴黎协定。

The climate law does not specify any policies — only targets and timelines — and it says nothing about legal enforcement mechanisms to guarantee that targets are met. It implicitly relies on the power of transparency to do the work of forcing future governments to implement actual policies.

《气候法》没有明确规定任何政策——只有目标和时限——也没有提到保证目标实现的法律执行机制。它暗中依赖透明度的力量，迫使未来的政府实施实际的政策。

The assumption is that governments will be embarrassed and suffer politically if they report inadequate progress year after year. The Paris agreement relies on a similar dynamic: the power of reputational risk to do the work of accountability.

假设政府如果年复一年地报告进展不足，将会感到尴尬并在政治上受到影响。 巴黎协议依赖于类似的动态：声誉风险的力量来完成问责制。

That aspect of the proposal has drawn some criticism. Dennis van Berkel of the Dutch NGO Urgenda, which sued the Dutch government in 2013 for failing to address climate change, told Green News that the law is a “paper tiger.” A legally binding target for 2030 was removed from the initial draft, he said, along with short-term carbon budgets.

该提案的这一方面引起了一些批评。荷兰非政府组织Urgenda的Dennis van Berkel在2013年因未能应对气候变化而起诉荷兰政府，他告诉绿色新闻，该法律是“纸老虎”。2030年的具有法律约束力的目标已从初稿中删除，他说，以及短期碳预算。

“What remains is unfortunately a largely symbolic act which only ensures that a yearly climate debate is organised which reports on the route towards the 2050 target,” he said, “but which gives very little assurance that real action is taken.”

“不幸的是，剩下的只是一个象征性的行为，只能确保每年组织一次气候辩论，报告实现2050年目标的路线，”他说，“但这几乎无法保证采取实际行动。”

I get why Dutch climate campaigners want to keep the pressure on (that’s their job), but this seems a bit uncharitable. Since only the 2050 target is legally binding, it would be possible for Dutch politicians to fritter and fail for the next 30 years, to do nothing but have annual meetings to no effect, but to believe that will happen is to completely dismiss the power of transparency and democratic accountability. Politicians don’t want to be seen as failing!

我明白为什么荷兰气候活动家想要保持压力（这是他们的工作），但这似乎有点不合情理。由于只有2050年的目标具有法律约束力，荷兰政客才有可能在接下来的30年中捣乱失败，除了年度会议无效之外什么都不做，但相信会发生的事情就是完全放弃透明度和民主责任制。政客们不希望被视为失败！

The bill will ensure that climate change is put in the spotlight every year. And it contains an unambiguous long-term target, with required adjustments every five years. If Dutch politicians do fail on climate goals going forward, they won’t be able to hide or downplay it. The failure will be extremely public. That matters.

该法案将确保气候变化每年都成为人们关注的焦点。它包含一个明确的长期目标，每五年进行一次必要的调整。如果荷兰政客在未来的气候目标上失败，他们将无法隐藏或淡化它。失败将是非常公开的。这很重要。

荷兰首相 Mark Rutte 与德国总理Angela Merkel谈话。Jack Taylor/盖蒂图片社

The Dutch are now pushing Europe forward

荷兰人正在推动欧洲前进

Along with the newly aggressive domestic policy has come a newly aggressive posture toward European Union climate policy. Rutte recently called upon the EU to revise its collective carbon target up to 55 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. (Germany’s outgoing environment minister dismissed the call as “unrealistic.”)

伴随着新的激进的国内政策，对欧盟气候政策采取了新的积极态度。 Rutte最近呼吁欧盟将其集体碳排放目标在2030年之前修改至比1990年水平低55％的水平。（德国外向环境部长认为这一呼吁“不切实际”。）

Alongside the UK, which also recently signaled that it might aim for a zero-carbon goal, the Netherlands is going from laggard to leader on climate at a dizzying pace.

除了最近也表示可能会实现零碳目标的英国之外，荷兰正以令人眼花缭乱的速度从落后的气候变为领导者。

I wasn’t sure I’d live to see it, but it looks like a substantial bloc of nations is forming that is taking climate change science seriously and making policy around it. The more nations that put carbon neutrality on record as the appropriate mid-century goal, the more difficult it will become for other industrialized nations to justify planning otherwise.

我不确定自己会活着看到它，但它似乎正在形成一个重要的国家集团，正在认真对待气候变化科学并围绕它制定政策。将碳中和作为适当的中世纪目标记录在案的国家越多，其他工业化国家就越难以证明其他方案的合理性。

Meanwhile, as countries across the world plot a course toward a sustainable future, US policy falls farther and farther behind. America, increasingly alone among nations, still clings, eyes shut tight, to the dirty past.

与此同时，随着世界各国为可持续发展的未来铺平道路，美国的政策越来越落后。美国在国家中越来越孤独，仍然紧紧抓住眼睛，紧紧抓住肮脏的过去。