Emissions have plunged 75% since communist times in the birthplace of big oil – but for some the transition has been brutal
From the article:
Few would consider Romania a climate leader but on one metric it has found the holy grail of the energy transition. The country has decoupled economic growth from pollution faster than anywhere else in Europe, and perhaps even the world. Its net greenhouse gas emissions intensity fell by 88% between 1990 and 2023, the latest data shows, meaning each dollar’s worth of economic activity heats the planet almost 10 times less than it did before. Emissions have plunged by 75%. [...] If industrial countries could decouple as quickly as Romania – and do so without the social fallout it suffered – the fight to stop climate breakdown may not seem so hopeless. Promising signs have emerged. Dozens of countries have completely decoupled their economies from emissions, even accounting for the pollution in imported goods, and many more have managed to grow richer while emissions climb at a slower rate, which scientists call relative decoupling. An analysis from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) last month found that countries representing 92% of the world’s economy have achieved one of these milestones.
In the same period that Romania has decreased emissions by 75%, it's economy doubled. It also holds the record for the two largest solar farms in Europe.
While this transition was far from perfect, the fact that it happened this quickly for a country so heavily reliant on fossil fuel industry is cause for hope.
