The share of energy from renewable energy sources in gross final energy consumption reached 18% in the EU in 2018, up from 17.5% in 2017, according to latest figures published by Eurostat.
The EU’s target is to reach 20% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020 and at least 32% by 2030.
Among the 28 EU member states, 12 have already reached a share equal to or above their national 2020 binding targets. They are Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus, Finland and Sweden.
According to Eurostat’s analysis four member states are within a percentage point of meeting their targets, nine are between one and four percentage points away, while three are four or more percentage points away from their targets.
Sweden had by far the highest share in 2018 with 54.6% of its energy coming from renewable sources, ahead of Finland with 41.2%, Latvia with 40.3%, Denmark with 36.1% and Austria with 33.4%.
At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest proportion of renewables was registered in the Netherlands, with 7.4%. Malta’s was 8%), 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.
Romania is 0.1% from reaching its national 2020 objective. Hungary, Austria and Portugal are less than 1% away and Germany, Luxembourg and Malta around 2% from their 2020 targets.
The Netherlands is 6.6% from reaching its target, France is 6.4%, Ireland is 4.9%, while the UK is 4% and Slovenia is 3.9%.