BEIJING — Two operational coal-to-gas plants in China and 48 proposed ones would together emit an estimated 1.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year and contribute significantly to climate change, according to a report released Tuesday by Greenpeace East Asia.

北京——绿色和平东亚办公室(Greenpeace East Asia)周二发布报告称，中国正在运行的两家煤制气工厂，加上计划中的48个新项目，预计将每年排放约11亿吨二氧化碳，从而对气候变化造成巨大的负面影响。

That amount is equal to about an eighth of China’s current total carbon dioxide emissions, which come mostly from coal-burning power plants and factories, said the organization, which is based in Beijing.

位于北京的绿色和平东亚办公室表示，这一数字相当于中国当前的二氧化碳排放总量的八分之一。中国的碳排放主要源自燃煤电厂和工业企业。

To combat air pollution, Chinese policy makers have been discussing building scores of coal-to-gas plants, mostly in northwest China, to provide gas to densely populated eastern regions for power. They would take the place of current coal-burning power plants in the biggest population centers of China, including the heavily polluted northern region that includes the cities of Beijing and Tianjin.

为了应对大气污染，中国的决策部门一直在讨论大量上马煤制气项目的计划，主要建设在西北地区，以便为人口密集的东部地区供能。这些项目将代替目前设在中国人口密度最大的地区里的燃煤电厂，比如京津等市所在的污染严重的华北地区。

Last September, the government announced a broad air pollution alleviation plan that, if followed, would result in cuts on coal use in the most populated areas by 2017. So officials are now looking for other ways to provide power for those areas.

去年9月，中国政府出台了一项覆盖面甚广的大气污染防治行动计划。如若执行，将能在2017年实现削减人口最密集地区煤炭消耗量的目标。因此，官方在寻找其他途径来为这些地区提供能源。

Coal-to-gas, or coal gasification, is a water-intensive process that generates enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, which is the main greenhouse gas destabilizing the world’s climate. Many scientists have criticized the process and said its use would be even worse for global climate conditions than burning coal to generate electricity, which itself is already considered hugely harmful in terms of emitting air pollutants and carbon dioxide.

煤制气又称煤转气，这种耗水量很大的工艺会产生大量的二氧化碳，而后者是破坏全球气候稳定的主要温室气体。许多科学家对该工艺持批评态度，称这种做法对全球气候状况的副作用甚至强于燃煤发电。燃煤发电本身已因排放大气污染物和二氧化碳而被认为极为有害。

On their websites, Chinese state-owned power companies categorize proposed coal-to-gas projects as “clean energy” or “new energy.” China is responsible for half of the annual global coal consumption and is the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, followed by the United States. Chinese and American officials have been engaged in on-and-off negotiations for years over how each nation can pledge to cap or reduce its coal use to try to avert severe climate change.

在中国国有能源企业的网站上，煤制气项目被列入了“清洁能源”或“新能源”类别。中国的年耗煤量目前占世界总量的一半，温室气体排放量则超越了美国居世界首位。中美两国的官员多年来一直在进行时断时续的谈判，讨论各自应承诺限制或削减多少的煤炭消耗量，以努力避免剧烈的气候变化。

Last October, two researchers at Duke University published a commentary in Nature Climate Change that said Chinese policy makers should delay the huge investments in coal-to-gas projects “to avoid a potentially costly and environmentally damaging outcome. An even better decision would be to cancel the program entirely.”

去年10月，杜克大学(Duke University)的两名研究人员在《自然·气候变化》(Nature Climate Change)期刊上发表了一篇评述文章，认为中国的决策部门应推迟大力投资煤制气项目，“以避免可能产生的代价巨大并破坏环境的后果。更好的决策则是彻底取消这一计划。”

In a written statement, Li Shuo, a climate analyst at Greenpeace East Asia, said on Tuesday: “Our research has revealed that China risks a boom in a destructive, expensive and outdated technology, which could undermine its efforts on climate change and further damage its environment. This wouldn’t be in China’s interest, and, with a new round of climate negotiations on the horizon, global leaders need to work with China to ensure it doesn’t happen.”

在周二发表的书面声明中，绿色和平东北亚办公室的气候分析员李硕称，“我们的研究揭示，这种破坏性、高成本且过时的技术可能会在中国出现爆炸式增长，从而破坏中国在气候变化方面的努力，并进一步损害环境。这并不符合中国的利益。在新一轮的气候谈判即将展开的背景下，世界各国领导人应与中国合作，避免其成为现实。”

A chart issued with the Greenpeace report made a stark comparison between the 50 Chinese projects’ estimated 1.1 billion tons of emissions and the United States government’s stated goal of reducing the country’s carbon dioxide emissions by 396 million tons by 2020 from 2005 levels.

绿色和平报告中的一幅图表进行了鲜明的对比：上方是中国的50个项目预计将产生的11亿吨排放量，下方是美国政府公布的2020年比2005年削减3.96亿吨二氧化碳排放量的目标。

Greenpeace said it had written its report based on analyses of all 50 coal-to-gas projects, some of which are at the early stages of planning. Eighty percent of the 50 plants would be located in northwest China, in the provinces or regions of Xinjiang, western Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and Gansu.

绿色和平表示，报告基于的是对全部50个煤制气项目的分析，其中一些尚处于规划早期。这50个项目中，80%将设立在西北地区的新疆、内蒙古西部、西夏和甘肃。

All those areas suffer from severe water shortages. The Greenpeace report said that besides the surge in carbon dioxide emissions, other negative consequences of operating the plants include worsening water scarcity, water pollution and air pollution.

以上地区均水资源严重匮乏。绿色和平的报告认为，除了二氧化碳排放激增，运行这些项目的负面后果还包括恶化缺水现象、水污染及大气污染。

One of the operational projects is in Inner Mongolia, and the other is in Xinjiang. In line with central government policy, Beijing is trying to decrease its coal use and turn to the new gas source from Inner Mongolia to help meet its energy needs. The government of the city of Hohhot, in Inner Mongolia, and Beijing Enterprises Group have reached an agreement in which Inner Mongolia will provide Beijing with four billion cubic meters of synthetic natural gas per year.

正在运行的项目中，一个位于内蒙古，另一个在新疆。遵照中央政府的政策，北京正努力削减自身的耗煤量，转而借助内蒙古的燃气新资源来满足部分能源需求。内蒙古呼和浩特市政府已与北控集团达成协议，内蒙将每年向北京供应40亿立方米的合成天然气。

The gas would come from the coal-to-gas plant, which is operated by the China Datang Corporation, one of the top five national state-owned power companies. The amount of gas generated from the plant would equal half of Beijing’s current annual gas demand.

这些天然气将来自中国五大国有能源企业之一——中国大唐集团运营的煤制气工厂，该厂的天然气产量将相当于北京目前年需求量的一半。

The Greenpeace report cited research from Tsinghua University showing that this agreement would result in a drop in coal use of 8.94 million tons per year in Beijing, but an increase in Inner Mongolia of 12 million tons.

绿色和平报告援引清华大学的研究结果显示，上述协议会使北京的年煤炭使用量减少894万吨，但与此同时，内蒙古的年煤炭使用量将增加1200万吨。

There would be a net growth of 3.77 million tons per year in carbon dioxide emissions and an increase of 24 million tons in water consumption, the report said.

报告称，二氧化碳的排放量每年将净增长377万吨，水消耗量增长2400万吨。

On Monday, the National Energy Administration of China announced that it would place limits on proposed coal-to-gas projects. It said China would ban coal-to-gas projects that will produce less than two billion cubic meters of gas per year and coal-to-oil projects producing less than one million tons of oil per year. It also said provinces or regions that are net importers of coal cannot start coal-to-gas projects.

中国国家能源局周一宣布，将对计划中的煤制气项目进行一些限制。该机构表示，将禁止建设年产不足20亿立方米的煤制气项目和年产不足100万吨的煤制油项目。该机构还表示，禁止在煤炭净调入省发展煤制油和煤制气项目。

A report by Xinhua, the state news agency, said the energy administration had come up with the limits “after new technology sparked an investment spree regardless of environmental and economic realities.” The guidelines were aimed at the local authorities. So far, specific coal-to-gas projects have generally been proposed by provincial officials and provincial state-owned enterprises.

官方媒体新华社的一篇报道说，在新技术引发了不顾环境和经济现状的投资狂潮之后，能源局推出了限制措施。这些政策针对的是地方政府。迄今为止，一些具体的煤制气项目基本上都是由省级官员和省级国有企业提出的。

Ma Wen, a Greenpeace researcher on coal-to-gas projects, said in a written statement, “The new N.E.A. directive shows that China’s energy authority is clearly concerned that its big plan for coal-to-gas plants in western China, seen as a solution for eastern China’s air pollution problem, could go wrong.”

绿色和平组织研究煤制气项目的马文在一份书面声明中说，“国家能源局的新规定显示出，中国能源机构显然担心，在中国西部建立煤制气工厂的宏伟计划可能会遭遇失败。这些计划被看做中国东部空气污染问题的解决方案。”

“But the document stops short at merely stressing the necessity of closely monitoring the projects’ development,” he said. “It doesn’t seem that Beijing is fully aware that western China, including Xinjiang and western Inner Mongolia, don’t have the environmental or water capacity to accommodate its coal-to-gas initiative, or that by 2030 the projects in total could produce almost 1.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year.”

“但这份文件仅强调了密切监控项目进展的必要性，”他说。“似乎北京并没有充分意识到，包括新疆和内蒙古西部在内，中国西部地区的环境和水资源没有与其煤制气计划相匹配的承受能力，也没有意识到，到2030年，这些项目加在一起每年会产生近11亿吨二氧化碳。”