来源：《经济学人》
原文见刊日期：2022年6月18日
Covid-induced lockdowns may have upended the world of work, but they have not killed the skyscraper. Even as workers stay home to avoid the commute, cities’ penchant for these concrete marvels of engineering continues unabated. In midtown Manhattan, JPMorgan Chase has knocked down its old headquarters in favour of a new glass tower that will rise 18 storeys higher. Across the city, more than a dozen supertall structures—which rise higher than 300m—are in the works. In London, more than 200 towers have transformed the skyline since 2009. The construction frenzy is not limited to big cities. By one estimate, the planet will add floor space the size of New York City every month until 2060.
新冠疫情引发的封锁可能颠覆了职场，但没有摧毁摩天大楼。即使工人们为了避免通勤而待在家里，城市对这些混凝土工程奇迹的偏好仍丝毫未减。在曼哈顿中城，摩根大通拆除了其旧总部大楼，取而代之的是一座比原来高18层的新玻璃大厦。全纽约市有十几座超高建筑正在建造中，这些建筑的高度均超过300米。自2009年以来，伦敦的200多座高楼改变了这座城市的天际线。建设热潮并不仅限于大城市。据估计，2060年以前，地球上每个月增加的建筑面积将相当于纽约市的大小。
Some worry that this pace of construction could literally cost the Earth. Today, buildings are responsible for almost 40% of global energy-related carbon emissions, with homes alone accounting for nearly 20%. Property emissions are a combination of two things. The first is the day-to-day running of a building: energy used to light up, heat or cool homes, office blocks and shopping malls. The carbon produced in this way is “operational”, and accounts for 27% of all annual carbon emissions globally. The other type is “embodied” carbon, which refers to emissions tied to the building process, maintenance and any demolition. Overall, embodied carbon is responsible for around 10% of annual emissions, though it will vary depending on the type of building.
一些人担心，这种建设速度可能会让地球付出巨大代价。如今，建筑占全球能源相关碳排放的近40%，仅住宅就占了近20%。房产排放是两件事的结合。第一个是建筑物的日常运行：用于家庭、办公大楼和购物中心照明、供暖或制冷的能源。通过这种方式产生的碳是“运行碳”，占全球年度碳排放量的27%。另一种类型是“隐含”碳，指的是与建筑过程、维护和任何拆除有关的排放。总的来说，隐含碳排放量占年排放量的10%左右，尽管具体会因建筑类型而有所不同。
Worryingly, the carbon footprint of buildings is growing. On the current path, carbon emissions related to buildings are expected to double by 2050. It is true that in 2020 emissions from managing property fell, after hitting a record high in 2019, according to the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC), an industry body. But that was mostly owing to lockdowns, which lowered emissions from all sorts of other activities too. Efforts to build greener played a minimal role.
令人担忧的是，建筑的碳足迹正在增长。按照目前的趋势，到2050年，与建筑相关的碳排放预计将增加一倍。根据行业组织全球建筑和施工联盟(GlobalABC)的数据，在2019年创下历史新高后，房地产管理的排放量在2020年确实有所下降。但这主要是由于封锁，这也降低了各种其他活动的排放量。绿色施工的作用微乎其微。
Worse still, advances in building energy efficiency are stalling. The global rate of annual improvement fell by half between 2016 and 2019, according to GlobalABC’s tracker, which measures indicators such as incremental investment in the energy performance of buildings, along with the share of renewable-energy use.
更糟糕的是，建筑能效的进步停滞不前。GlobalABC的跟踪报告显示，2016年至2019年，全球年度改善速度下降了一半。该报告衡量的指标包括建筑能源性能的增量投资，以及可再生能源使用的份额。
Policymakers are scrambling to find solutions. New energy-efficiency standards for buildings in England and Wales mean that one in ten offices in central London risks becoming obsolete in 2023. Nearly 60% could become unusable by 2027. Across the EU, where nearly two-thirds of the building stock relies on fossil fuels for heating and cooling, officials want nearly half of a building’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2030. Cities are setting lofty targets, too. New York is aiming for carbon-free electricity by 2040; Los Angeles, for zero-emissions buildings by 2050.
决策者们正忙于寻找解决方案。英格兰和威尔士的新建筑能效标准意味着，伦敦市中心十分之一的办公室有可能在2023年被淘汰。到2027年，近60%可能无法使用。在整个欧盟，近三分之二的建筑存量依赖化石燃料进行供暖和制冷，官员们希望到2030年，建筑的近一半能源来自可再生能源。城市也在制定远大的目标。纽约的目标是到2040年实现无碳电力；洛杉矶，到2050年实现建筑零排放。