In recent years, governments have clearly demonstrated their lack of willingness to pursue the kind of bold policies and regulatory action that are needed to curb climate change. Indeed, since world leaders failed to achieve a climate-change agreement at the COP15 conference in Copenhagen in 2009, the issue has remained on the back burner, with policymakers focusing instead on containing the fallout of the global economic crisis.
近年来，政府已经清楚地表明他们不愿执行遏制气候变化所需的大胆政策及监管行动。其实从各国领导人未能在2009年的哥本哈根COP15会议上达成气候变化协议后，这个问题就一拖再拖，因为决策者都在全力关注遏制全球经济危机的后果。美国最近的预算僵局只能让这样的局面进一步巩固。虽然不少人都欢迎20世纪70年代那样自上而下的方案，但在可以预见的未来不太可能实现这样的结果。