(25 January 2018) – In 2016, the share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy reached 17% in the European Union, double the share in 2004 (8.5%). Eleven Member States already achieved their 2020 targets.
With more than half (53.8%) of its energy coming from renewable sources in its gross final consumption of energy, Sweden had by far the highest share in 2016, ahead of Finland (38.7%), Latvia (37.2%), Austria (33.5%) and Denmark (32.2%).
At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest proportions of renewables were registered in Luxembourg (5.4%), Malta and the Netherlands (both 6.0%).
Among the 28 EU Member States, 11 have already reached the level required to meet their national 2020 targets: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Croatia, Italy, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania, Finland and Sweden. Moreover, Austria is less than 1 percentage point (pp) away from its 2020 target.
At the opposite end of the scale, the Netherlands (8.0 pp from its national 2020 objective), France (7.0 pp), Ireland (6.5 pp), the United Kingdom (5.7 pp) and Luxembourg (5.6 pp) are the furthest away from their targets.