Well hydropower is the "easy" level of the decarbonization game. So it's not really surprising first countries to leave fossil fuels behind are also countries with mountains and rivers.

▲

ignoramous a day ago | parent [-]

> not really surprising first countries to leave fossil fuels behind are also countries with mountains and rivers

What's surprising is countries sharing natural resources are among the pioneers, despite the geopolitical implication... like Ethiopia testing the Egyptian waters by building dams on the Nile.

▲

hunterpayne a day ago | parent [-]

Maybe you should lookup when these damns were built. I wouldn't be surprised if in 1970 there were also 9 countries who didn't use any FFs. Same 9 countries of course. If you can build hydro you do. Problem is, we already have them everywhere they can be. And even now, hydro is only about 10% of all electric power production worldwide.

	▲	ignoramous 19 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam opened in 2023 seemingly beginning construction when Egypt was at its weakest post Arab Spring [0]. [0] Ethiopia outfoxes Egypt over the Nile's waters with its mighty dam, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz71zndj001o (2025).