Episode Details

In a major backtracking move, the United States government has fired the last of the staff members at the State Department's Office of Global Change, which oversees the country's international climate change negotiations. This means the world's largest historical polluter will possibly have no official presence at the 30th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP30, scheduled to be held in Belem, Brazil, in November.

作为一项重大的倒退举措，美国政府解雇了国务院全球变化办公室的最后一名工作人员，该办公室负责监督该国的国际气候变化谈判。这意味着，世界上最大的历史污染者可能不会正式出席定于11月在巴西贝伦举行的联合国气候变化框架公约第30次缔约方大会（COP30）。

The event will provide representatives from 190 countries with a platform to try to foster consensus on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions between now and 2035. It is considered to be one of the most consequential climate summits with a large bearing on the future of humanity. The absence of the US at the meeting will compromise the global efforts to address climate change.

此次活动将为来自190个国家的代表提供一个平台，努力就从现在到2035年如何减少温室气体排放达成共识。它被认为是对人类未来有重大影响的最重要的气候峰会之一。美国缺席会议将损害全球应对气候变化的努力。

A direct outcome of the US' withdrawal could be a shortage of the vital funding that spurs emissions reductions in other countries, and helps the most vulnerable communities to adapt to the mounting impacts of climate change. In 2023, the US announced a $3 billion pledge to the Green Climate Fund. And, given that the US is a high-tech superpower capable of providing solutions based on technology and innovation, its reversal on the climate agenda will make it more difficult for countries to try to slow the rising temperatures and deal with increasing extreme weather events.

美国退出的直接结果可能是缺乏刺激其他国家减排的重要资金，并帮助最脆弱的社区适应气候变化日益严重的影响。2023年，美国宣布向绿色气候基金认捐30亿美元。而且，鉴于美国是一个能够提供基于技术和创新的解决方案的高科技超级大国，其在气候议程上的逆转将使各国更难以减缓气温上升和应对日益严重的极端天气事件。

The US' withdrawal also marks a major step back from the leading role it once played on climate change. The US is abandoning its responsibilities in the midst of a planetary emergency, as some observers said.

美国的退出也标志着其在气候变化问题上曾经发挥的主导作用发生了重大倒退。正如一些观察人士所说，美国正在全球紧急情况下放弃其责任。

The US first committed to the Paris Agreement in a joint announcement with China in 2015. The legally binding international treaty, which entered into force in November 2016, aims to hold "the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 centigrade above preindustrial levels".

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