The Democratic leadership in the US Senate has suspended efforts to pass a climate change bill. It abandoned not only its planned comprehensive cap-and-trade measure, similar to one already passed by the House of Representatives, but also a more modest bill aimed at electric utilities. The Senate will most likely pass an energy bill of some sort, but this will barely even pretend to make progress on curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
美國參議院的民主黨領導層已不再推動通過氣候變化法案。他們放棄的不僅是計劃中的全面的「限量及交易」(cap-and-trade)議案——類似於衆議院已經通過的議案,而且還放棄了一項針對電力公用事業企業的更溫和的議案。參議院極有可能通過某種形式的能源法案,但這份法案將幾乎不會假裝在抑制溫室氣候排放上取得進展。這種放棄結束了自1997年《京都議定書》(Kyoto protocol)開始的故事,其高潮出現在去年12月的哥本哈根氣候變化峯會上。在那場期待很久的峯會上,全球各國政府希望用一套更爲有效的新制度來取代《京都議定書》,後者在解決氣候變化問題上未曾取得任何可以察覺的進展。結果他們空手而歸。