Romania, on the other hand, “has decoupled economic growth from pollution faster than anywhere else in Europe, and perhaps even the world,” The Guardian reported this week. Between 1990 and 2023, its carbon intensity fell by 88%, and current emissions are 0.2% of the world total. That’s a far cry from being one of Europe’s most polluted countries when it emerged from communist rule in 1989, and before Romania went on to build democratic institutions and transparent governance processes.