Renewable energy as a share of Belgians' total energy consumption rose in 2021, accounting for 13.01% of energy use according to FPS Economy. This just allowed Belgium to meet the EU's target for Member States' renewable energy consumption.
The findings were revealed in FPS Economy's latest energy report, which collected data on the country's energy consumption throughout 2021. The chosen time period is of particular interest given it comes just after the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020 and just before the energy crisis that engulfed Europe in 2022.
Released on Friday, the report found that despite petroleum products still dominating the market – accounting for 45.9% of the country's energy consumption as a result of increased natural gas heating in the winter – Belgium still managed to meet the 13% threshold set by the EU on the share of renewable energies.
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Belgium's renewable energy consumption initially stood at 12.44% – below the European target. The government then intervened and purchased renewable energies from other EU27 Member States (as it had done in 2020), meaning that Belgium's renewable energy consumption reached 13.01% at the end of the year.
The report also detailed Belgium's energy production in 2021, 24% of which came from renewable energy sources and 70.4% from nuclear power. However, these figures are set to vastly change, with the government taking drastic measures to detach their gas supply from Russia for both energy consumption and production in 2022.
