Climate change and energy policy in Eastern Europe: Two scenarios for the future

The citizens of Poland, Eastern Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Romania inhabit perhaps the most polluted environments in the world, largely because of their countries' inefficient use of energy. Energy use is two to three times greater per unit of economic output than in Western Europe. Energy inefficiency also constrains economic growth by diverting capital to unproductive use. As much as 40% of all industrial investment in Poland was consumed in energy production.