紐時賞析／希臘成美天然氣向歐洲出口新樞紐 美公司為最大收益贏家

希臘成爲美國天然氣向歐洲出口的一個新樞紐。美聯社

Why Greece Is Betting Big on American Gas

希臘擁抱綠能 卻對美國天然氣下重注

When a withering financial crisis forced Greece to rethink its economy a decade ago, it bet big on green power. Since then, Greece's energy transition has been so swift “it almost feels utopian,” one Greek environmentalist said.

當十年前一場讓人難堪的金融危機迫使希臘重新思考其經濟時，該國在綠色能源下了重注。一位希臘環保人士說，從那時以來，希臘能源轉型如此迅速，「幾乎感覺到烏托邦」。

Mountainous ridgelines and arid islands are covered in wind turbines and solar panels that today provide nearly two-thirds of the nation's electricity.

風力發電機和太陽能板完全覆蓋了巨大的山脊線與乾燥的島嶼，如今提供全國電力將近三分之二。

But now Greece is deliberately pivoting back toward fossil fuels, just not to burn at home. This time it's betting that it can become one of Europe’s main suppliers of natural gas, with much of it shipped from the United States.

但現在希臘正刻意戰略轉向，朝着化石燃料回頭，只是不在國內燃燒。這一次，它正在打賭，自己可以成爲歐洲主要天然氣供應國之一，其中大部分從美國用船運來。

The investments in Greece are part of a deluge of investments into natural gas around the world, with significant consequences for climate change. In coming years, nearly $1.5 trillion will go into constructing pipelines and terminals. Twenty percent of that spending is in Europe.

在希臘的投資，是世界各地向天然氣蜂擁而至投資的一部分，對氣候變遷有重大後果。在今後幾年，近1.5兆美元將投入建設管道和接收站。這筆開銷的百分之廿是在歐洲。

The world's pivot to gas speaks to a kind of hedging that increasingly defines global climate negotiations: While nations have agreed on the necessity to transition away from fossil fuels as quickly as possible, almost all major economic powers are promoting gas as a “transition fuel.”

世界的戰略轉向天然氣，顯示一種逐漸定義全球氣候談判的避險：雖然各國已同意必須儘快從化石燃料轉型，但幾乎所有主要經濟大國都在宣傳天然氣爲一種「過渡燃料」。

Its proponents argue that gas is cleaner-burning than coal and oil, and more reliable than renewables like wind or solar.

它的擁護者主張，燃燒天然氣比煤炭和石油更清潔，比風能或太陽能等再生能源更可靠。

Natural gas is a climate threat in two ways. Burning it produces carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas warming the world. Large but unknown quantities of it also leak into the atmosphere unburned, where it has highly potent but shorter-term planet-warming effects. These concerns prompted the Biden administration this year to pause issuing permits for new export terminals while it assesses their effects on the climate.

天然氣以兩個方面成爲氣候威脅。燃燒它產生二氧化碳，即暖化世界的主要溫室氣體。大量但數量未知的天然氣沒有燃燒就泄漏到大氣中，帶來高效但短期的地球暖化效應。這些顧慮，促使拜登政府今年暫停爲新的出口接收站發出許可證，同時評估它們對氣候的影響。

But the United States is still far and away the world's main exporter of gas. And those concerns haven't stopped the administration from pushing for Greece to become a new hub for American gas exports in Europe.

但美國仍無疑是世界主要天然氣出口國。那些顧慮沒有阻止美國政府努力爭取希臘，成爲美國天然氣向歐洲出口的一個新樞紐。

In this arrangement, Greece gets billions of dollars of heavily subsidized gas infrastructure, but the bigger payoff is political, not financial. Greece positions itself as central to European energy security, and it plays a key role in the West's strategy to isolate Russia.

爲了這個安排，希臘得到數十億美元高度補貼的天然氣基礎設施，但更大的收益是政治性，而非財務性。希臘將自身定位爲歐洲能源安全核心，並在西方孤立俄羅斯的戰略發揮關鍵作用。

The real money will be made by American gas companies. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the United States has more than doubled its exports of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, to Europe, amounting to nearly $100 billion in trade.

真正的利益將被美國天然氣公司賺走。自俄羅斯入侵烏克蘭以來，美國對歐洲的液化天然氣出口增加超過一倍，貿易額將近1000億美元。

文／Max Bearak　譯／周辰陽