美国应主动带动碳排放交易市场_BEC初级作文

美国应主动带动碳排放交易市场

Last month, the Supreme Court upheld the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate carbon as a pollutant. Next month the EPA will issue new rules limiting power plant emissions. It should follow up with curbs on refineries, cement plants and other polluters. Rule-based economics is certainly less efficient than market signalling. But if the framework is intelligent – and avoids picking technological winners – it can simulate many of the benefits of an actual carbon market.

上月，美国最高法院的判决支持了国家环境保护局(Environmental Protection Agency)将二氧化碳作为污染物来监管的权力。环保局下月将推出新规，限制电厂的碳排放。该局应该接着推出对精炼厂、水泥厂和其他污染者的限制。用法规来改变人们的经济决策，效果肯定比市场信号要差。但如果法规框架设计明智（而不是选择技术上较优的方案），那么法规可以模拟真实碳排放市场的许多优点。

Mr Obama must also do a better job of educating the public. Unfortunately, US environmentalists are fixated with stopping the Keystone XL pipeline – a decision Mr Obama keeps postponing.

奥巴马还必须更好地教育公众。遗憾的是，美国环保主义者一门心思关注于阻止拱心石XL输油管道项目(Keystone XL pipeline)的开工建设。奥巴马一直推迟就这一问题做出决定。

In reality, Canadian oil sands will still arrive in the US by road and rail, and be exported to China and other markets. Mr Obama should approve the pipeline. But he should make it clear there will be an escalating cost to consumption of oil sands and other carbon-intensive fuels.