OREANDA-NEWS. In 2014, the share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy reached 16.0% in the European Union (EU), almost double that of 2004 (8.5%), the first year for which the data is available.

The share of renewables in gross final consumption of energy is one of the headline indicators of the Europe 2020 strategy. The target to be reached by 2020 for the EU is a share of 20% energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy. However, renewables will continue to play a key role in helping the EU meet its energy needs beyond 2020. For this reason, Member States have already agreed on a new EU renewable energy target of at least 27% by 2030.

Highest share of renewables in Sweden, lowest in Luxembourg

Since 2004, the share of renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy grew significantly in all Member States. Compared with a year ago, it has increased in 24 of the 28 Member States.

With more than half (52.6%) of energy from renewable sources in its gross final consumption of energy, Sweden had by far in 2014 the highest share, ahead of Latvia and Finland (both 38.7%), Austria (33.1%) and Denmark (29.2%). At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest proportions of renewables were registered in Luxembourg (4.5%), Malta (4.7%), the Netherlands (5.5%) and the United Kingdom (7.0%).

France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom: furthest away from their goals

Each EU Member State has its own Europe 2020 target. The national targets take into account the Member States' different starting points, renewable energy potential and economic performance. Among the 28 EU Member States, a third have already reached the level required to meet their national 2020 targets: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Italy, Lithuania, Romania, Finland and Sweden. Moreover, Denmark and Austria are less than 1 percentage point from their 2020 targets. At the opposite end of the scale, France (8.7 percentage points from reaching its national 2020 objective), the Netherlands (8.5 pp), the United Kingdom (8.0 pp) and Ireland (7.4 pp) are the furthest away from their targets.