环保组织称很少有公司达到用水目标

内容原文：

Major corporations in industries that produce clothing, food, drinks and technology services use a lot of water.

However, many companies say they want to be more responsible about the freshwater they use. Drought, floods and extreme weather also threaten their supply chains.

The nonprofit environmental group Ceres ranked 72 companies for their sustainability efforts. Ceres said few of the businesses are close to reaching the 2030 goals set by the group, which is based in Boston, Massachusetts.

Coca-Cola cans move down a conveyer belt in the Swire Coca-Cola bottling plant Oct. 20, 2023, in Denver. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson)

Coca-Cola cans move down a conveyer belt in the Swire Coca-Cola bottling plant Oct. 20, 2023, in Denver. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson)

Last year, Ceres launched an effort to push companies with large water usage to protect water resources. Recently, the group released a study that included the corporations Coca-Cola, general Mills and Amazon.

"There's no doubt that companies need to do better," said Kirsten James. She is a program director for water at Ceres.

Ceres said the companies were chosen from four industries based on their size and use of water. They were ranked based on several factors, including promises to protect the amount and quality of the water they use, as well as the environments that supply it. They were also tested on whether they helped improve access to water and sanitation in communities where they do business. Ceres used publicly available information, including information the companies provided to the government through March.

None of the companies scored above 70 percent of the points available. Some were considered to be on track to meet the goals set by the nonprofit group, with scores of at least 50 percent.

Coca-Cola said its water use in 2022 was 10 percent more efficient compared to 2015. The company said it hopes to have 100 percent circular water use. That is where all water is used and returned to the watersheds it has been drawn from.

But the company did not say how likely it was to reach that target, nor how much progress it has made. Coca-Cola also said producing its products does not use as much water as growing what goes into the products it sells.

"The agricultural ingredients that we use use vastly more water to produce than the actual manufacturing process," said Michael Goltzman. He is vice president of Coca Cola and a sustainability head.

Reports say technology companies, like Amazon and Apple, use a lot of water to cool the computers in their large data centers. The Ceres study rated both companies below 20 percent progress toward the nonprofit's targets.

Food company General Mills was among the companies closest to meeting the 2030 targets, at 65 percent.

Mary Jane Melendez is the company's chief sustainability officer. She said 85 percent of the company's water use is in agriculture. Extreme weather in the U.S. has reportedly affected the company in recent years.

Melendez gave examples of weather-related problems. She said freezing and thawing hurt the company's supply of sugar beets. She also said drought affected its oats supply.

Michael Kiparsky is director of the Wheeler Water Institute at the University of California, Berkeley. He said that corporations have an interest in protecting their operations from water shortages. That could push them to make bigger steps to protect freshwater resources.

Kiparsky pointed out there is no way to enforce Ceres' targets. But he asked, "Does money talk? When it talks, it talks pretty loud," he said.

I'm Dan Novak.

Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting by The Associated Press.

翻译结果：

生产服装、食品、饮料和技术服务的大公司使用大量的水。

然而，许多公司表示，他们希望对自己使用的淡水更加负责。 干旱、洪水和极端天气也威胁着他们的供应链。

非营利环境组织Ceres对72家公司的可持续发展努力进行了排名。 Ceres表示，很少有企业接近于实现该集团设定的2030年目标。该集团总部位于马萨诸塞州波士顿。

2023年10月20日，丹佛，太古可口可乐装瓶厂的可口可乐罐沿着传送带移动。 (美联社图片/Brittany Peterson)

2023年10月20日，丹佛，太古可口可乐装瓶厂的可口可乐罐沿着传送带移动。 (美联社图片/Brittany Peterson)

去年，Ceres发起了一项努力，推动用水量大的公司保护水资源。 最近，该组织发布了一项研究，其中包括可口可乐、通用磨坊和亚马逊等公司。

“毫无疑问，公司需要做得更好，”柯尔斯滕·詹姆斯(Kirsten James)说。 她是谷神星水资源项目主管。

Ceres表示，这些公司是根据规模和用水量从四个行业中挑选出来的。 他们的排名基于几个因素，包括承诺保护他们使用的水的数量和质量，以及供应水的环境。 他们还接受了测试，看他们是否帮助改善了他们做生意所在社区的水和卫生设施。 Ceres使用的是公开信息，包括这些公司在3月份之前向政府提供的信息。

没有一家公司的得分超过70%。 其中一些被认为有望达到非营利组织设定的目标，得分至少为50%。

可口可乐表示，与2015年相比，其2022年的用水效率提高了10%。 该公司表示，希望实现100%的循环用水。 所有的水都是在这里被使用，并返回到它所来自的流域。

但该公司没有透露实现这一目标的可能性有多大，也没有透露已经取得了多大进展。 可口可乐还表示，生产其产品所消耗的水没有生产其销售的产品所消耗的水多。

Michael Goltzman说:“我们使用的农业原料在生产过程中使用的水比实际生产过程要多得多。” 他是可口可乐公司的副总裁和可持续发展负责人。

报道称，像亚马逊和苹果这样的科技公司使用大量的水来冷却其大型数据中心的计算机。 Ceres的研究认为，这两家公司在实现非营利组织目标方面的进展都低于20%。

食品公司通用磨坊是最接近实现2030年目标的公司之一，达到65%。

玛丽·简·梅伦德斯(Mary Jane Melendez)是该公司的首席可持续发展官。 她说，该公司85%的用水用于农业。 据报道，近年来美国的极端天气影响了该公司。

梅伦德斯举例说明了与天气有关的问题。 她说，冷冻和解冻影响了公司的甜菜供应。 她还表示，干旱影响了燕麦的供应。

Michael Kiparsky是加州大学伯克利分校惠勒水研究所的主任。 他说，企业有兴趣保护自己的业务不受水资源短缺的影响。 这可能会促使他们采取更大的措施来保护淡水资源。

Kiparsky指出，没有办法强制执行谷神星的目标。 但他问:“钱能说话吗?” 它说话的时候声音很大。”

我是丹·诺瓦克。

丹·诺瓦克根据美联社的报道为美国之音慢速英语改编了这篇报道。

重点词汇：

a lot of 很多 ; 许多

want to 应该

more responsible 负责 ; 有责任 ; 承担义务 ; 作为原因 ; 成为起因 ; ;

extreme weather 极端天气 ; 极端气候 ; 极端的天气 ; 灾害天气

close to 接近 ; 几乎 ; 差不多 ; 在近处，很近地 ; 凑近地

set by 由设置 ; 搁在一旁

move down 降低 ; 降级

conveyer belt 传送带；传动带

Swire 斯怀尔

Oct. 十月（=October）

句子成分分析第1句：

None of the companies scored above 70 percent of the points available

句子语法结构详解：

 scored 为谓语，采用一般过去时。

 available 为形容词作后置定语

 none 为不定代词。the 为定冠词。

句子相关学习点：

none of 作主语时的主谓一致原则

None of 作主语的主谓一致原则如下:

1) none of + 可数名词复数（或集体名词单数）作主语时， 谓语动词用单复数形式均可。

* None of the guests want/wants to stay. 没有一个客人想留下来的。

* None of her family has/have been to school. 她的一家都没有上过学。

2) none of + 不可数名词作主语时，谓语动词用单数形式。

* None of the work was done. 什么工作也没干。

句子成分分析第0句：

Drought, floods and extreme weather also threaten their supply chains

句子语法结构详解：

 threaten 为谓语，采用一般现在时。

 their 为形容词型物主代词。

句子相关词汇解释：

Phrase:

Vocabulary:

以上是秒词邦为您整理编写的文章《环保组织称很少有公司达到用水目标》的全部内容。秒词邦是国内权威分题型分考点背诵中高考/四六级考研/专升本/出国单词的专业单词软件。扫描如下小程序码，进入秒词邦官方小程序获取更多英语相关资料！ 【关键词：高考单词；高考英语；高中单词；高中英语；单词app；单词软件；记单词app；记单词软件；背单词软件；背单词app；英语单词；四六级单词；四六级英语；四六级单词app；四六级单词软件；考研单词app；考研单词软件；核心单词；高考冲刺复习；高考英语教材；高考英语真题；四六级真题；四六级试题；考研真题；考研英语单词；考研英语真题】