尽管在她所在的唐纳德·特朗普总统政府领导下，反对气候行动的力量似乎势不可挡，麦卡锡看起来却异常乐观。
McCarthy seems remarkably chipper given the seemingly relentless opposition to climate action, led by her own government under President Donald Trump.
麦卡锡曾在奥巴马政府时期担任美国环境保护局局长，在拜登政府时期担任白宫气候顾问，她承认自己的观点并非人人认同。“在别人听来可能有点疯狂，”她说，“但我对接下来将要发生的事情真的非常看好。”她在路透社全球可持续发展奖颁奖典礼前夕接受《道德企业》采访，当时她因“三十多年来始终站在美国争取更清洁空气、更安全用水和宜居气候斗争的最前沿”而获颁终身成就奖。
McCarthy, who was head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during the Obama administration, and White House climate adviser under Joe Biden, accepts that her view isn’t universally held. “It may sound a little crazy to people,” she says. “But I'm really bullish on what's happening next.”
她在获奖感言中同样流露出这种乐观情绪，该感言通过视频从她位于波士顿郊外的家中发表。
She spoke to The Ethical Corporation on the eve of Reuters Global Sustainability Awards, where she was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement award, in recognition of spending more than three decades “at the forefront of America's fight for cleaner air, safer water, and a liveable climate”.
“尽管联邦政府及其化石燃料盟友胡作非为，但过去一年清洁能源出现了大规模激增，”她说，“来自全美各地的州和地方政府‘正在通力合作，推动更激进的能源转型……怀着一股势不可挡的乐观精神’。”
Her bullishness was also clear in her acceptance speech, which was delivered by video from her home outside Boston.
下个月，麦卡锡将带着这份乐观精神前往土耳其安塔利亚出席联合国气候峰会，她将以“全美共同行动”联盟主席的身份参会，该联盟由支持气候行动的美国城市、州、企业和社区团体组成。
“Despite all the nonsense from my federal government and their fossil fuel allies, there has been a massive surge this past year in clean energy,” she said, with state and local governments from across the U.S. “working together to drive a more aggressive energy transition ... with a relentless spirit of optimism”.
“我们不希望世界其他国家认为，美国就是特朗普所说的那样。美国是我们的州和地方政府所说的那样，”她对《道德企业》表示。
McCarthy will be taking that optimistic spirit to next month’s United Nations’ climate summit in Antalya, Turkey, as chair of America Is All In, a coalition of pro-climate U.S. cities, states, corporations and community groups.
在美国中期选举——预计将在COP31召开前一周举行——有望让民主党重夺众议院控制权并削弱共和党对参议院的掌控之际，这一信息将更容易推销。
“We don't want the rest of the world to think that the United States is what Trump says. The United States is what our state and local governments say,” she tells The Ethical Corporation.
她援引了伊利诺伊州的例子，该州已通过立法，计划到2030年为其电网增加3吉瓦的电池储能容量；还有加利福尼亚州，该州计划对其已经处于先锋地位的碳信用计划进行现代化改造。
With the U.S. midterm elections, in the week prior to COP31, expected to restore the House of Representatives to Democratic control and weaken Republicans’ grip on the Senate, that message will be even easier to sell.
与此同时，俄亥俄州克利夫兰市正在推行一项新的五年计划，目标是将排放量削减近三分之二（以2018年水平为基准）。
She cites Illinois, which has passed legislation to add 3 gigawatts of battery storage to its grid by 2030, and California, which plans to modernise its already pioneering carbon credit programme.
怀疑论者会指出，所有这些例子都来自由民主党牢牢控制的选区，但麦卡锡指出，共和党大本营得克萨斯州拥有过去一年美国电网新增太阳能和电池项目中相当大的一部分，且这些新增量创下了纪录。
Cleveland, Ohio, meanwhile, is pursuing a new five-year plan to cut emissions by nearly two-thirds (against 2018 levels).
麦卡锡长期以来认为，对于美国普通选民来说，在为家庭和企业供电的问题上，经济利益胜过意识形态。
Sceptics will note that all the examples derive from strongly Democrat-controlled constituencies, but McCarthy points out that the Republican stronghold of Texas is home to a substantial portion of the record additions of solar and battery projects added to the U.S. grid in the past year.
随着每月通胀率达到3.4%，可再生能源相较于化石燃料的相对经济性，使其对家庭用户的吸引力日益增强。
McCarthy has long believed that for the average U.S. voter, economics trump ideology when it comes to powering their homes and businesses.
与此同时，企业也大力投入可再生能源，这不仅是因为能源成本上升，还因为能源安全面临的威胁日益加剧。
The relative affordability of renewable power compared to fossil fuels makes it increasingly attractive to householders, in the face of a monthly inflation rate of 3.4%.
据企业支持的企业能源购买者协会（CEBA）统计，2025年企业资助的清洁能源项目发电量超过了美国45个单独州的总发电量。
Corporations, meanwhile, have been leaning heavily into renewable energy, mindful not only of rising energy costs but growing threats to energy security.
随着美国在全球清洁能源转型方面的投资目前已达到约3780亿美元，似乎“美国全力以赴”联盟的支持者们——他们共同代表了美国63%的人口和74%的GDP——可以高枕无忧了。
According to the business-backed Corporate Energy Buyers Association (CEBA), corporate-sponsored clean energy projects in 2025 exceeded the total power generation of 45 individual U.S. states.
然而，麦卡锡远未因此而掉以轻心。在她任内取得的许多环保进展被特朗普政府推翻后，她保持着高度警惕。例如，在9月中旬，她曾在2013年至2017年担任局长的环保署（EPA）表示，计划不再对电力部门的温室气体排放进行监管。
With U.S. investment in the global clean energy transition now running at around $378 billion, it may seem like supporters of America Is All In, who collectively represent 63% of the U.S. population and 74% of U.S. GDP, can rest easy. Yet having seen many of the environmental advances made under her watch rolled back by the Trump Administration, McCarthy is far from complacent. In mid-September, for example, the EPA, which she headed up between 2013 and 2017, said it planned to desist from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector.
据“全美共同行动”组织称，拟议举措可能导致燃煤发电量潜在增长十倍，对温室气体排放和人类健康均造成严重影响。
According to America Is All In, the proposed move could see a potential ten-fold increase in coal-fired power, with severe impacts on greenhouse gas emissions but also human health.
“让这项（清洁能源计划）被本届政府随意废除简直荒谬至极。它只有好处，没有坏处，”她说。
“To have this (Clean Power Plan) arbitrarily taken off the books by this administration was absolutely ludicrous. It had nothing but benefits,” she says.
另一项她承认“看在眼里不容易”的政策逆转，是废除环保署2009年具有里程碑意义的“温室气体危害认定”，这使该机构无法追踪和限制汽车及重型车辆的排放。
Another policy reversal that she admits was “not easy” to watch was the scrapping of the EPA’s landmark 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding, barring the agency from tracking and capping emissions from cars and heavy-duty vehicles.
但麦卡锡认为，稀释2022年《通胀削减法案》（IRA）是特朗普政府近期为阻碍转型努力采取的所有举措中后果最严重的一项。
But it was the dilution of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that McCarthy deems the most consequential of all the Trump administration’s recent moves to halt transition efforts.
该法案在新冠疫情后出台，拨出约4850亿美元公共支出和减税优惠，用于医疗保健、清洁技术及其他转型相关投资。
Introduced in the wake of the COVID pandemic, the IRA earmarked around $485 billion in public spending and tax breaks for investments in healthcare, clean tech and other transition-related investments.
该法案的拆解依然让麦卡锡愤慨不已，她将其描述为“我们国家拥有的最大机遇之一”，可为美国民众提供清洁、安全且负担得起的能源。
Its dismantlement continues to incense McCarthy, who describes it as “one of the biggest opportunities that our country ever had” to provide U.S. citizens with clean, secure and affordable energy.
然而她的反应一如既往地坚韧不拔。“你知道，面对这些挑战时，我们都得鼓起勇气，挺身而出。”支撑她信心的有两个基本信念：即人们最终会被清洁能源的成本竞争力说服，也会意识到“这个政府不会永远执政”。
Yet her response is typically indefatigable. “You know, we all have to pull up our big boy, big girl pants when these challenges happen.”Fuelling her confidence are two fundamental convictions; namely, that people will be ultimately won over by clean power’s cost competitiveness, and will also realise that “this administration isn’t forever”.
她从多起诉讼中汲取慰藉，各州政府和倡导团体正就特朗普政府削弱环境保护的各种努力提起诉讼。
She takes heart from the multiple lawsuits now being brought by state authorities and campaign groups against various efforts by the Trump administration to weaken environmental protections.
本月初，由25个城市和州组成的联盟——包括纽约、加利福尼亚、北卡罗来纳和华盛顿特区——向哥伦比亚特区美国联邦上诉法院提交请愿，要求审查环保署取消发电厂排放标准的提议。
Earlier this month, a coalition of 25 cities and states – including New York, California, North Carolina and Washington D.C. – issued a petition to the U.S. court of appeals for the District of Columbia to review the EPA’s proposal to remove emission standards for power plants.
同样令人鼓舞的是，美国正在涌现出跨部门合作的精神。她提到了C40全球城市数据中心公约。这项由49个城市（包括美国境内的22个城市）支持的新市长主导倡议，旨在提升资源密集型数据中心管理的公共问责度。
Also encouraging is the spirit of cross-sector collaboration that is now emerging across the U.S. She points to the C40 Global Urban Data Centres Pact. A new mayor-led initiative endorsed by 49 cities, including 22 in the U.S., seeks to promote greater public accountability in the management of resource-hungry data centres. The pact, which includes Chicago, Austin, Seattle and Miami, comes on the back of increasing disquiet in the U.S. over the water and energy consumption of AI data centres.
该公约包括芝加哥、奥斯汀、西雅图和迈阿密，是在美国日益对人工智能数据中心的水和能源消耗感到不安的背景下推出的。
While McCarthy acknowledges the potential economic benefits of such facilities, she argues that companies and regulators have not paid enough attention at their environmental and community impacts.
尽管麦卡锡承认此类设施可能带来的经济效益，但她认为，公司和监管机构对其环境和社区影响的关注还不够。
She would like to see tax revenues from data centres used to help fund renewable energy projects and community infrastructure.
她希望看到数据中心的税收收入用于帮助资助可再生能源项目和社区基础设施。
“They (data centres) are one of the fastest-growing challenges that we have in the United States,” she says.
“它们（数据中心）是我们在美国面临的增长最快的挑战之一，”她说。“必须有一种方法，确保它们能开展业务，而不至于毁了我们。”路透社活动全球可持续发展奖2026：其他获奖者可持续发展卓越人工智能奖——获奖者：Tracera；高度赞扬：Jupiter Intelligence生物多样性冠军奖——获奖者：Olam Agri；高度赞扬：Rainforest Expeditions商业转型奖——获奖者：Pure Data Centres Group；高度赞扬：Pandora循环经济奖——获奖者：LIXIL Corporation；高度赞扬：Groupe SEB数据驱动可持续发展传播奖——获奖者：Syngenta Group；高度赞扬：Diversified Energy Company多元、公平与包容奖——获奖者：Atlas Renewable Energy；高度赞扬：Halkbank水资源管理领导力奖——获奖者：SPG Dry Cooling；高度赞扬：Nestle Waters & Premium Beverages净零：领导力奖——获奖者：Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited；高度赞扬：Edison International净零：运营转型奖——获奖者：Cushman & Wakefield and Standard Chartered；高度赞扬：Bodycote plc净零：供应链脱碳奖——获奖者：Schneider Electric；高度赞扬：AstraZeneca年度合作伙伴奖——获奖者：Hindustan Unilever Limited；高度赞扬：Aviva产品创新奖——获奖者：Hitachi Energy；高度赞扬：Fairphone年度负责任投资者奖——获奖者：Circulate Capital；高度赞扬：EFG Holding新锐可持续发展之星奖——获奖者：Daniel Kopp；高度赞扬：Marine Sanouiller可持续发展目标先锋奖——获奖者：Telkom Indonesia；高度赞扬：Sunbeth Global Concepts Ltd.中小企业年度大奖——获奖者：Radica；高度赞扬：Zūm社会影响力大奖——获奖者：Ilunion；高度赞扬：Obrio可持续发展报告卓越大奖——获奖者：DP World；高度赞扬：Clarion Housing Group可持续发展开拓者大奖——获奖者：Lei Zhang；高度赞扬：Andy Kuper
“There has to be a way to ensure that they can do their thing without destroying us.”Reuters Events Global Sustainability Awards 2026: other winners AI for Sustainability Excellence Award — Winner: Tracera; Highly Commended: Jupiter Intelligence Biodiversity Champion Award — Winner: Olam Agri; Highly Commended: Rainforest Expeditions Business Transformation Award — Winner: Pure Data Centres Group; Highly Commended: Pandora Circularity Award — Winner: LIXIL Corporation; Highly Commended: Groupe SEB Data-driven Sustainability Communication Award — Winner: Syngenta Group; Highly Commended: Diversified Energy Company Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Award — Winner: Atlas Renewable Energy; Highly Commended: Halkbank Leadership in Water Stewardship Award — Winner: SPG Dry Cooling; Highly Commended: Nestle Waters & Premium Beverages Net Zero: Leadership Award — Winner: Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited; Highly Commended: Edison International Net Zero: Operations Transformation Award — Winner: Cushman & Wakefield and Standard Chartered; Highly Commended: Bodycote plc Net Zero: Supply Chain Decarbonisation Award — Winner: Schneider Electric; Highly Commended: AstraZeneca Partnership of the Year Award — Winner: Hindustan Unilever Limited; Highly Commended: Aviva Product Innovation Award — Winner: Hitachi Energy; Highly Commended: Fairphone Responsible Investor of the Year Award — Winner: Circulate Capital; Highly Commended: EFG Holding Rising Sustainability Star Award — Winner: Daniel Kopp; Highly Commended: Marine Sanouiller SDG Pioneer of the Year Award — Winner: Telkom Indonesia; Highly Commended: Sunbeth Global Concepts Ltd. Small-Medium-Enterprise of the Year Award — Winner: Radica; Highly Commended: Zūm Social Impact Award — Winner; Ilunion; Highly Commended: Obrio Sustainability Reporting Excellence Award — Winner: DP World; Highly Commended: Clarion Housing Group Sustainability Trailblazer Award — Winner: Lei Zhang; Highly Commended: Andy Kuper