Failure to take climate change seriously enough has resulted in the world now facing a climate emergency, with rising global temperatures, melting polar ice caps, increasingly frequent and severe storms, floods and droughts, and rising sea levels. Despite being the first country in the world to set statutory carbon emissions reduction targets (in the Climate Change Act 2008), the UK government since 2012 has fallen increasingly behind, even by its own standards. This paper details what this has meant in terms of specific policies and identifies some of the reasons for this policy failure: in particular, a negative attitude towards regulation and a return to a reliance on market forces, plus an overriding concern to continue with ‘business as usual’, in terms of support for fossil-fuel industries and ever-increasing energy demand and supply. Ironically, this has resulted in a situation where radical solutions seem even more necessary and more urgent.

中文翻译：

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英国减缓气候变化政策的持续失败

未能足够重视气候变化导致世界现在面临气候紧急情况，全球气温上升，极地冰盖融化，风暴、洪水和干旱越来越频繁和严重，以及海平面上升。尽管是世界上第一个制定法定碳减排目标的国家（在 2008 年气候变化法案中），但英国政府自 2012 年以来已经越来越落后，即使按照自己的标准也是如此。本文详细介绍了这在具体政策方面意味着什么，并确定了这一政策失败的一些原因：特别是对监管的消极态度和对市场力量的依赖，以及对继续“商业”的压倒一切的担忧。像往常一样”，在支持化石燃料行业和不断增长的能源需求和供应方面。