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Climate change has increased the severity of California wildfires in recent years, turning the skies above San Francisco and Silicon Valley dark red.
近年来,气候变化加剧了加州野火的严重程度,使旧金山和硅谷的天空变成了暗红色。
Despite this, the local tech sector’s contribution to addressing climate change is mixed. Electric vehicles are popular and companies such as Amazon and Meta have pledged to reach carbon neutrality. But the sector has yet to produce solutions to help slash global emissions rapidly at scale.
尽管如此,当地科技行业对应对气候变化的贡献好坏参半。电动汽车很受欢迎,亚马逊(Amazon)和Meta等公司已承诺实现碳中和。但该行业尚未拿出有助于大规模迅速削减全球排放的解决方案。
New subsidies for renewable energy will not change that, unless investor outlooks change, too.
对可再生能源的新补贴不会改变这一点,除非投资者的前景也发生改变。
US climate bill bounty adds up to almost $370bn. This includes $60bn to encourage more domestic manufacturing of devices such as solar panels and $27bn for green banks to help get clean tech projects off the ground. The hope is that by 2030, the US — the world’s second biggest greenhouse gas emitter — will reduce emissions by 40 per cent compared with 2005 levels.
美国气候法案奖金总计近3700亿美元。其中包括600亿美元用于鼓励更多的太阳能电池板等设备的国内制造,以及270亿美元用于向绿色银行提供帮助启动清洁技术项目的资金。人们希望,到2030年,世界第二大温室气体排放国美国的排放量将比2005年的水平减少40%。
There are signs the private sector is stepping up. US venture capital investment in climate tech companies reached $56bn last year, up 80 per cent on the previous year, according to Silicon Valley Bank. Recent successful funding rounds benefited the likes of Afresh, a San Francisco company developing tech to prevent food waste.
有迹象表明,私营部门正在加快步伐。硅谷银行(Silicon Valley Bank)的数据显示,去年美国对气候科技公司的风险资本投资达到560亿美元,同比增长80%。最近几轮成功的融资使旧金山开发防止食物浪费技术的公司Afresh受益。
But there is wariness towards the sector, too. A decade ago, a number of clean tech start-ups collapsed, including Solyndra, a solar-panel maker. Low prices for fossil fuels and competition from China took a toll on incentives. Impatient VCs withdrew capital.
但人们对该行业也持谨慎态度。十年前,包括太阳能电池板制造商Solyndra在内的许多清洁技术初创企业倒闭。化石燃料的低价和来自中国的竞争对激励措施造成了损害。急躁的风投撤资。
This year, there has been a broad slowdown in tech start-up funding as rising interest rates curb demand for risky ventures. Data from PitchBook show the valuation of early-stage US start-ups fell between the first and second quarters.
今年,随着利率上升抑制了对风险投资的需求,科技初创企业的融资普遍放缓。PitchBook的数据显示,美国初创企业的估值在第一和第二季度之间有所下降。
The tech sector’s contribution to addressing climate change will depend on investor appetite for risk and long-dated projects. Clean energy tech start-ups tend to be expensive and R&D intensive. Traditional five-year investment horizons do not apply.
科技行业对应对气候变化的贡献将取决于投资者对风险和长期项目的偏好。清洁能源科技初创企业往往成本高昂,且研发密集。传统的5年投资期限并不适用。
But there are also plenty of grants, tax exemptions and other incentives. VCs can help start-ups claim these. Climate tech success will reward investors with flexibility and vision.
但也有大量的拨款、免税和其他激励措施。风投可以帮助初创企业实现这些目标。气候技术的成功将以灵活性和远见回报投资者。