《经济学人》双语：印度如何有效减少空气污染？

原文标题：
When the smoke clears
Can markets reduce pollution in India?
An experiment in Gujarat yields impressive results
当烟雾散去
市场能减少印度的污染吗？
古吉拉特邦的一项实验结果令人印象深刻

[Paragraph 1]
INDIA’S BATTLE with pollution has gone literal.
印度的污染防治工作已经落到实处。

To clean up Delhi’s filthy air, officials now routinely deploy “anti-smog” guns across the capital.
为了净化德里的污浊空气，官员们现在经常在首都各地部署“除霾”枪。

The band-aid solution reflects desperation: air pollution, India’s public-health enemy number one, kills around 2m people a year.
这种治标不治本的方法反映出了印度的无奈：空气污染是印度公共卫生的首要威胁，每年约导致200万人死亡。

Recent research, however, suggests that it may be vulnerable to a more abstract weapon: market forces.

然而，最近的研究表明，空气污染可能会受到一种更抽象的武器--市场力量的影响。

[Paragraph 2]
For five years the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB), a regulator in the western state of Gujarat, has run an emissions-trading scheme in the city of Surat.
5年来，印度西部古吉拉特邦的监管机构--古吉拉特邦污染控制委员会在苏拉特市实施了一项排放交易计划。

The programme is modelled on environmental cap-and-trade markets in the West, but instead of carbon, pollution permits are traded.
该项计划借鉴了西方的环境限额与交易市场模式，但印度的交易对象并非碳排放许可，而是污染排放许可。

A company that wants to exceed the regulator’s threshold for particulate-matter emissions needs to purchase a permit from one that hasn’t yet reached it.
如果一家公司想要超过监管机构设定的颗粒物排放阈值，就需要从另一家尚未达到该阈值的公司那里购买排放许可。

The mutually beneficial trade is meant to cut overall pollution.
这种互利共赢的交易旨在减少总体污染。

[Paragraph 3]
A new study suggests the strategy is working.
一项新的研究表明，这一策略正在发挥作用。

Nicholas Ryan of Yale University and his collaborators have used a randomised controlled trial to measure whether the mechanism reduces pollution.
耶鲁大学的尼古拉斯·瑞安和他的同事们利用了随机对照试验，来评估该机制能否减少污染。

They find that plants that have taken part in the trading scheme have emitted 20-30% less than those that have not.
他们发现，参与排放交易计划的工厂排放的污染物比未参与的工厂减少了20%-30%。

The programme, which is proving popular, has given firms clarity and flexibility, says Mr Ryan.
瑞安表示，这一计划颇受欢迎，为企业提供了清晰度和灵活性。

[Paragraph 4]
The study also exposes the failures of the previous “command and control” regulations, which remain in place in most of the country.
这项研究还揭露了印度之前的“命令与控制”规定的失败，这些规定在印度大部分地区仍然有效。

Under these, plants are required to install equipment that abates pollution.
这些规定要求工厂安装减少污染的设备。

They are then inspected periodically by officials who check if their emissions fall below the limit.
然后由官员定期检查工厂的排放量是否低于限值。

[Paragraph 5]
But the system is ineffective. Before the launch of the emissions-trading market in Surat, around 30% of the city’s firms were breaching the pollution threshold.
然而，这一制度效果不佳。在苏拉特排放交易市场启动之前，该市约有30%的企业污染超标。

Monitoring was sporadic and enforcement weak. Regulators across India are understaffed and find it difficult to track factories, especially smaller ones.
监测工作时断时续，执法不力。印度各地的监管机构人手不足，很难追踪各种工厂，尤其是小工厂。

Many companies struggle to meet the cost of technology needed to limit their emissions.
许多企业难以承受控制排放所需技术的成本。

[Paragraph 6]
The market is more efficient. Bigger firms have found it cheaper to buy permits than to invest in reducing emissions.
市场交易的方式效率更高。大公司发现购买许可证比投资减排工程更便宜。

All told, the researchers estimate that the decrease in pollution yielded longevity benefits worth at least 25 times the costs.
综合来看，研究人员估算，污染减少带来的寿命延长效益至少是成本的25倍。

The findings are especially encouraging for policymakers grappling with the Indian economy’s fundamental dilemma: it needs more factories for growth and job creation, but much less pollution.
这一发现对于政策制定者来说尤其振奋，因为他们正想办法解决印度经济面临的基本难题：印度需要更多的工厂来促进经济增长和创造就业机会，但污染问题必须大幅减少。

[Paragraph 7]
Can Surat’s success be replicated?
苏拉特的成功可以复制吗？

Unlike carbon, particulate matter is a localised emission and so trading can only happen in industrial clusters, of which there are hundreds across India.
与碳排放不同，颗粒物是一种局部排放物，因此只能在工业集群区内进行交易，而印度有数百个工业集群。

But there is no reason why similar markets cannot be established in them, says Chirag Bhimani, who helped launch Surat’s market.
但奇拉格·比马尼认为--他参与帮助启动苏拉特市场--没有理由不能在这些集群区中建立类似的市场。

Last year a pollution market was launched in Ahmedabad.
去年，艾哈迈达巴德启动了污染排放市场。

The researchers are also working with the regulator in Maharashtra, a neighbouring state, to introduce a market for sulphur dioxide, another pollutant.
目前，研究人员还在与邻近的马哈拉施特拉邦的监管机构合作，计划在该邦引入另一种污染物--二氧化硫排放市场。

[Paragraph 8]
In order to take off, those markets will require reliable data.
要想让这些市场起步，就必须有可靠的数据作为支撑。

In the years leading to the launch of Surat’s scheme, the regulator helped install what are dubbed Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS) in the city’s factories.
在苏拉特计划启动前的几年里，监管机构帮助该市的工厂安装了连续排放监测系统（CEMS）。

These devices, placed in ducts and chimneys, can track emissions concentrations in real time.
这些设备安装在管道和烟囱中，可以实时跟踪排放浓度。

The national pollution regulator has now said that highly polluting firms must install similar systems.
印度的国家污染监管机构现在表示，高污染企业必须安装类似系统。

[Paragraph 9]
The sensors and improved data address a weakness in existing regimes by making it easier to monitor emissions.
传感器和更完善的数据通过简化排放监测，弥补了现有制度的一个短板。

But setting up a market and enforcing its conditions also requires more bureaucratic capacity.
但建立市场并强制执行相关条件，也需要更多的行政能力。

In Surat the process took years, as GPCB officials and plant managers were trained up.
在苏拉特，由于古吉拉特邦污染控制局官员和工厂经理需要接受培训，这一过程历经数年才得以完成。

The same will be needed wherever new markets are launched, requiring investment and legislation, says Karthik Ganesan of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, a think-tank.
能源、环境与水资源理事会（一个智库）的卡提克·甘乃森表示，无论在哪里启动新市场，都需要同样的投资和立法。

Nor can markets alone defeat air pollution, of which industry emissions account for only 30%.
单靠市场本身并不能战胜空气污染，因为工业排放只占30%。

For Indian taxpayers, however, they seem to deliver rather more bang for their buck than those anti-smog cannons.
然而，对于印度纳税人来说，市场似乎比那些除霾炮更具性价比。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇631左右）
原文出自：2024年10月12日《TE》Finance & economics版块

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路
本文翻译整理: Irene
本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【重点句子】（3个）
The band-aid solution reflects desperation: air pollution, India’s public-health enemy number one, kills around 2m people a year.
这种治标不治本的方法反映出了印度的无奈：空气污染是印度公共卫生的首要威胁，每年约导致200万人死亡。

A company that wants to exceed the regulator’s threshold for particulate-matter emissions needs to purchase a permit from one that hasn’t yet reached it.
如果一家公司想要超过监管机构设定的颗粒物排放阈值，就需要从另一家尚未达到该阈值的公司那里购买排放许可。

All told, the researchers estimate that the decrease in pollution yielded longevity benefits worth at least 25 times the costs.
综合来看，研究人员估算，污染减少带来的寿命延长效益至少是成本的25倍。