(23 January 2020) – In 2018, the share of energy from renewable sources in gross final energy consumption reached 18% in the EU, up from 17.5% in 2017 and more than double the share in 2004 (8.5%).
Sweden had by far the highest share in 2018 with more than half (54.6%) of its energy coming from renewable sources, ahead of Finland (41.2%), Latvia (40.3%), Denmark (36.1%) and Austria (33.4%).
At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest proportion of renewables was registered in the Netherlands (7.4%). Low shares, less than ten percent, were also recorded in Malta (8.0%), Luxembourg (9.1%) and Belgium (9.4%).
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.
The Netherlands (6.6 pp), France (6.4 pp), Ireland (4.9 pp), the United Kingdom (4.0 pp) and Slovenia (3.9 pp) are the furthest away from their targets.