Efforts to rein the climate change will upend the geopolitics of energy.

 rein in动词搭配，“严格控制”；rein 作名词时，意思是“缰绳”。

 upend “使颠倒；颠覆”

 geopolitics 指“地缘政治”——geo-地球的、geography地理学、geology地质学

Now the world is in the midst of an energy shock that is speeding up the shift to a new order.加速世界变化转向一个新的秩序。As covid-19 struck the global economy earlier this year, demand for oil dropped by more than a fifth and prices collapsed. Since then there has been a jittery recovery, but a return to the old world is unlikely.

 midst 意思是“中部，中间”，常用于in the midst of 结构中，意思是“当某事发生时”，这里是说当今世界正处于能源冲击之中。

 energy shock 石油（市场）震荡

 struck  strike 的过去式， “冲击”

 collapse 本意 “倒塌;崩溃”，这里是“(突然)降价，暴跌”——近义词plunge跳下;暴跌

 drop by… 下跌…

 jittery “紧张不安的，心神不宁的”——jitter n./v.焦虑不安；抖动

Fossil-fuel producers are being forced to confront their vulnerabilities. ExxonMobil has been ejected from the Dow Jones Industrial Average((The Dow)道琼斯工业平均指数), having been a member since 1928.

 fossil-fuel 指“化石燃料”；fossil 意思是“化石”，fuel 是“燃料”。

 vulnerability 意思是“弱点，脆弱性”—— vulnerable

 confront one’s vulnerability面对某人的脆弱

 eject v.逐出

Petrostates(石油国家) such as Saudi Arabia need an oil price of $70-80 a barrel(桶,石油计量单位，相当于120~159升) to balance their budgets. Today it is scraping along at just $40. As the public, governments and investors wake up to climate change, the clean-energy industry is gaining momentum.

 scrap “废弃，报废”；其作名词时，意思是“碎片”，scraps 还可表示残羹剩饭。

 scrape by/along 勉强维生

 wake up to 意识到

 clean energy 清洁能源

 momentum 势头——gain/lose momentum势头增强/减弱

Capital markets(资本市场) have shifted: clean-power stocks are up by 45% this year. With interest rates near zero, politicians are backing green infrastructure(GI绿色基础设施) plans. America’s Democratic presidential contender, Joe Biden, wants to spend $2trn decarbonizing America’s economy. The European Union has earmarked 30% of its $880bn covid-19 recovery plan for climate measures, and its president, Ursula von der Leyen, used her state-of-the-union address(总统制国家把总统向国会发表的年度报告称为”国情咨文”) this week to confirm that she wants the EU to cut greenhouse-gas emissions(排放) by 55% over 1990 levels in the next decade.

 democratic 民主党的——Democrat 民主党；Republican 共和党

 contender 角逐者——contender for the title冠军争夺者

 decarbonize 脱碳——de-去除，decentralize去中心化

 earmark:/ˈɪəmɑːk/指定…的用途；预先安排，确定（未来发生的事情）它后面常跟for/as.看中文可能不太懂啥意思，来看几个例句就懂了：

e.g. The money had been earmarked for spending on new school buildings.这笔款项已指定用于新校舍建设。

e.g. The factory has been earmarked for closure.这家工厂已被指定关闭。

The 21st-century energy system promises to be better than the oil age—better for human health, more politically stable and less economically volatile. The shift involves big risks.

If disorderly, it could add to political and economic instability in petrostates and concentrate control of the green-supply chain in China.

 volatile a.不稳定的——volatility (市场、价格)不稳定性

 disorderly adj. 无序地

 supply chain 供应链

Energy accounts for two-thirds of greenhouse-gas emissions; the pollution from burning fossil fuels kills over 4m people a year, mostly in the emerging world’s megacities. Oil has also created political instability. For decades petrostates such as Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, with little incentive to develop their economies, have been mired in the politics of handouts and cronyism. 这些石油国家一直没有什么动力去发展自己的经济，因为他们一直深陷在依靠政府拨款生存，并且政府也会陷入任人唯亲的泥潭。

 accounts for… 占据…（比例）

 megacity 超大城市

 emerging world 新兴国家/地区——emerging market新兴市场

 political instability 政治不稳定性

 incentive n. 刺激；动力——incentive to do sth.；incentive scheme激励计划

 mire n. 泥沼；v.使陷入泥潭——同义词bog n.泥沼；bog sth./sb. down 使某人/物陷入

 handout 政府拨款

 cronyism 任人唯亲

In an effort to ensure secure supplies, the world’s big powers(大国) have vied to influence these states, not least(特别) in the Middle East, where America has roughly 60,000 troops. Fossil fuels cause economic volatility, too. Oil markets are buffeted by an erratic cartel. Concentration of the world’s oil reserves(石油储备) makes supply vulnerable to geopolitical shocks. Little wonder(=no wonder 难怪) that the price has swung by over 30% in a sixth-month period 62 times since 1970.

 vie v.竞争——vie with sb. for sth.；vie to do sth.

 buffet n. 自助餐[ˈbʊfeɪ]；v.长期打击[ˈbʌfɪt]

 erratic a. 不稳定的=unstable

 swing n.秋千；v.摆动

A picture of the new energy system is emerging. Most important, decarbonising energy will avoid the chaos of unchecked(a.不受限制的) climate change, including devastating(a.令人绝望的) droughts, famine, floods and mass dislocation((人或动物)被迫迁徙).

 picture 形势——the big/overall picture 全局

 with bold action 采取大胆的行动

 architecture

 -ly从…的角度来说：politically, geographically, technologically, economically, culturally

建筑；体系结构

Yet even as a better energy system emerges, the threat of a poorly managed transition(转变) looms. Two risks stand out. Autocratic China could temporarily gain clout over the global power system because of its dominance(支配力) in making key components and developing new technologies. Today Chinese firms produce 72% of the world’s solar modules(光伏模块), 69% of its lithium-ion batteries(锂离子电池) and 45% of its wind turbines(风力发电机/风力涡轮).

 loom v.赫然出现；逼近

 clout n.势力，影响力

 stockpile v. 囤货——stock库存+pile堆

China’s leverage depends on how fast other economies. America’s trajectory has been affected by the rise of shale oil and gas(页岩油/气), which has made it the world’s largest oil producer, and by Republican resistance to decarbonisation measures. If America were to act on climate change—with, say, a carbon tax(碳税) and new infrastructure—its capital markets, national energy laboratories and universities would make it a formidable green power.……都有实力让它成为一个令人敬畏的对手

 leverage n.影响力=influence/clout

 trajectory 轨迹

 formidable a.令人敬畏的

As oil demand dwindles, they will face a vicious fight for market share which will be won by the countries with the cheapest and cleanest crude(=crude oil 原油). Even as they grapple with the growing urgency of economic and political reform, the public resources to pay for it may dwindle.  … A perilous few decades lie ahead(在……前面).

 dwindle 减少

 vicious 凶险的——vicious circle 恶性循环

 crude=crude oil 原油

 grapple with 设法解决

 perilous 危险的；濒临崩溃的

Faced with these dangers, the temptation will be to ease the adjustment, by taking the transition more slowly.面对以上这些危险，对他们来说最好的就是通过慢慢地进行转变来减缓这种调整。However, that would bring about a different, even more destabilizing set of climate-related consequences. Instead, as our special report in this issue explains, the investments being contemplated fall drastically short of what is needed to keep temperatures within 2°C of pre-industrial levels, let alone(更别说) the 1.5°C required to limit the environmental, economic and political turmoil(动乱) of climate change. 这些投资远远不足将温度控制在工业化以前的2℃以内，更别说要想控制气候变化所带来的环境、经济和政治动荡要控制在1.5℃以内。

 destabilizing a.使不稳定的——de否定+ stabilise使稳定=动摇

 contemplate v.考虑

 fall short of… 不足…

And if the shift towards fossil-fuel-free renewable energy accelerates, as it must(这也是恰恰我们应该做的), it will cause even more geopolitical turbulence(动乱≈chaos/turmoil). The move to a new energy order is vital, but it will be messy(凌乱的).建立一个新的能源秩序至关重要，但是过程肯定非常困难。