Renewable energy’s share of energy consumption in the European Union (EU) was 17% in 2016, the European Statistical Office, Eurostat, reported on Thursday. This was double the percentage achieved in 2004 (8.5%), the first year for which such data is available.
With 8.7% of the energy it consumes coming from renewable sources (as against 1.9% in 2004), Belgium was far below the EU average. Sweden achieved the highest proportion in 2016 (53.8%), followed by Finland (38.7%), Lithuania (37.2%), Austria (33.5%) and Denmark (32.2%). At the other end of the scale, renewable energy’s share was 5.4% in Luxemburg and 6.0% in both Malta and the Netherlands.
Among the 28 EU member states, 11 have already reached the required levels for meeting their respective 2020 goals: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Croatia, Italy, Lithuania, Hungary, Rumania, Finland and Sweden. Austria was less than one percentage point away from its 2020 target.
On the other hand, the countries farthest from their 2020 objectives are the Netherlands (8.0%), France (7.0%), Ireland (6.5%), United Kingdom (5.7%) and Luxemburg (5.6%).
Belgium’s 8.7% score is also below the 13%-by-2020 target the country has set itself.
O.Apelblat
The Brussels Times
