Six of Europe’s biggest oil and gas companies have banded together to ask the UN to let them help devise a plan to stop global warming.
欧洲六大油气企业联合请求联合国(UN)让它们帮助设计一项遏止全球变暖的计划。
In a sign of the rising pressure on fossil fuel companies ahead of a UN meeting in Paris to seal an international climate deal, the chief executives of groups including Royal Dutch Shell and Britain’s BP have sought direct talks with governments on creating a global carbon pricing system.
包括荷兰皇家壳牌(Royal Dutch Shell)以及英国石油(BP)在内的6家欧洲油气企业的首席执行官已寻求就创建一个全球碳定价体系与各国政府直接对话。这一迹象表明，在联合国在巴黎召开会议签订一项国际气候协议之前，化石燃料企业面临的压力日益上升。

“We owe it to future generations to seek realistic, workable solutions to the challenge of providing more energy while tackling climate change,” the executives say in a letter to the Financial Times revealing their plan.
这些首席执行官在写给英国《金融时报》的一封透露其计划的信中表示：“为了未来的世代，我们要针对在应对气候变化的同时提供更多能源的挑战，寻求切合实际且可行的解决方案。”
The six European companies say shunning use of coal in electricity generation in favour of cleaner burning natural gas, a big source of their revenues, would sharply curb carbon emissions. The chief executives wrote to the top UN climate official, Christiana Figueres, on Friday asking for “direct dialogue with the UN and willing governments” on designing a carbon scheme.
这6家欧洲企业表示，淘汰燃煤发电，转向燃烧更清洁的天然气（这些企业的一大营收来源）将大幅缓解碳排放。这些首席执行官上周五致函《联合国气候变化公约》秘书处执行秘书克里斯蒂娜•菲格雷斯(Christiana Figueres)，请求就设计一项碳计划“与联合国以及有意愿的政府直接对话”。
“We have important areas of interest in and contributions to make to creating and implementing a workable approach to carbon pricing,” said the company chiefs, who include the heads of France’s Total, Norway’s Statoil, Italy’s Eni and Britain’s BG Group.
这些首席执行官表示：“在创建以及实施一个可行的碳定价方案方面，我们对重要领域感兴趣而且可以做出贡献。”这些商界领袖包括法国道达尔(Total)、挪威国家石油公司(Statoil)、意大利埃尼集团(Eni)以及英国天然气集团(BG Group)的首席执行官。
Energy companies and their trade association representatives have typically preferred to lobby politicians in private meetings rather than via public pronouncements. This highly public proposal marks a shift in the way they typically approach UN climate talks, which they usually attend as observers.
能源企业及其行业协会代表一般更愿意在私下会面时游说政治人士，而不是发表公开声明。这一高度公开的提议标志着，这些企业对待联合国气候谈判的方式发生转变，他们通常是作为观察员参加这些谈判的。
It comes as nearly 200 countries prepare to sign a global climate pact at a UN conference in December. Some countries want the deal to include a deadline for phasing out fossil fuels that scientists say must be curbed to avoid potentially dangerous levels of global warming.
目前近200个国家准备在联合国12月会议上签署一项全球气候协议。一些国家希望该协议将包括逐步淘汰化石燃料的最后期限，某些科学家表示，必须限制使用化石燃料，才能避免全球变暖达到潜在危险的程度。
Pressure from politicians and some investors for energy companies to do more has led to splits between European and US energy groups.
政治人士以及能源企业的一些投资者要求采取更多措施的压力，导致欧美能源企业出现不同立场。