古特雷斯警告印度：煤炭将带来更坏的经济

据路透社8月28日报道，联合国秘书长安东尼奥·古特雷斯说，对化石燃料的投资意味着更多的死亡、疾病以及不断上涨的医疗成本。

Investing in fossil fuels means more deaths and illness and rising healthcare costs, says Antonio Guterres

 

印度正面临着致命的空气污染、高昂的医疗费用以及全球变暖带来的日益严重的灾害威胁，联合国负责人警告该国领导人，对煤炭的更多投资是“不良经济学”。

With India facing deadly air pollution, high healthcare costs and growing disaster threats from global warming, the head of the United Nations warned the country’s leaders on Friday （8月28日）that investing more in coal was “bad economics”.

 

印度是世界第三大温室气体排放国，虽然一直在增加对可再生能源的使用，但煤炭仍然是其发电的主要燃料。

India, the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has been ramping up its use of renewable energy - but coal remains its dominant fuel for power production.

 

联合国秘书长安东尼奥·古特雷斯在对总部位于新德里的环境智库能源与资源研究所组织的一场在线演讲中表示：“印度必须结束对污染、财政不稳定和昂贵的化石燃料的依赖。”

“India must end its reliance on polluting, financially volatile and costly fossil fuels,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a virtual address to the New Delhi-based environment think-tank The Energy and Resources Institute.

 

“投资化石燃料意味着更多的死亡、疾病以及不断上涨的医疗成本。简而言之，这是一场人类的灾难和糟糕的经济状况。”

“Investing in fossil fuels means more deaths and illness and rising healthcare costs. It is, simply put, a human disaster and bad economics.”

 

他敦促印度转而投资于太阳能发电。他说，在新冠肺炎大流行摧毁了人们的生活之际，太阳能发电可以创造就业机会，从而解决贫困问题，同时还可以为6400万没有电力的印度人增加获得能源的机会。

He urged India to instead invest in solar power, which he said could tackle poverty by generating jobs at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has destroyed livelihoods and also boost access to energy for 64 million Indians who live without power.

 

他说：“新冠疫情的威胁使许多人重新陷入贫困，这种创造就业的机会不容错过。”他补充说，对可再生能源投资所创造的就业机会是化石燃料的三倍。

“With the Covid-19 pandemic threatening to push many people back into poverty, such job creation is an opportunity that can’t be missed,” he said, adding that investment in renewable energy creates three times more jobs than fossil fuels.

 

古特雷斯呼吁在2020年后停止对新的煤炭发电的承诺，他说，随着越来越多的大型投资者放弃使用煤炭，“煤炭业务正在烟消云散”。

Guterres called for a halt on commitments to new coal power after 2020, saying “the coal business is going up in smoke” as growing numbers of large investors abandon its use.

 

印度环境与森林部、电力部都没有回应多次置评的请求。

Neither the environment ministry nor the power ministry responded to repeated requests for comment.

 

印度是仅次于中国的全球第二大动力煤消费国。

India is the world’s biggest consumer of coal for power after China.

 

煤炭部于周二（8月25日）表示，计划在“未来几年”大幅减少煤炭进口量，并提高当地产量，以改善印度中部大部分煤矿聚集的各邦的经济状况。

The coal ministry said on Tuesday that it plans to significantly reduce its coal imports in “the next few years” and boost local production to improve the economies of states in central India, where most coal mines are located.

 

在严格的因疫情的封锁打击经济之后，印度今年的煤炭需求已经下降。

The country’s coal demand this year has fallen after strict lockdowns hit the economy.