(31 August 2016) – A study carried out by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) found that the EU’s final energy consumption fell by 6.35% between 2000 and 2014.
On paper this may not look like much. But by cutting out 72 million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe), the EU has saved the equivalent of the annual energy consumption of Finland. What is more, the Commission said, the EU has already achieved the energy efficiency objective fixed for 2020 under the climate and energy package.
But whether Europe really has improved or whether it has just benefitted from an unusual set of circumstances remains to be seen.
European industry, which accounted for 16% of the EU’s total energy consumption in 2014, performed well over the 15 years since 2000, cutting its energy consumption by 17.6%. The residential sector followed close behind with a reduction of 9.52%.
However, the performance of the transport (+2.2%) and services sectors (+16.5%) is less impressive.