The contribution of renewable energy in EU’s energy consumption was up to 14 per cent in 2012, according to the latest figures by Eurostat.
On 10 March, Eurostat announced the latest figures for the renewable energy in the EU28. According to the statistical office of the EU, in 2012, energy from renewable sources was estimated to have contributed 14.1 per cent of gross final energy consumption in the EU28, compared with 8.3 per cent in 2004. The largest increases during the period of 2004 - 2012 were recorded in Sweden (from 38.7 per cent in 2004 to 51.0 per cent in 2012), Denmark (from 14.5 per cent to 26.0 per cent), Austria (from 22.7 per cent to 32.1 per cent), Greece (from 7.2 per cent to 15.1 per cent) and Italy (from 5.7 per cent to 13.5 per cent).
In addition, the highest shares of renewable energy in final energy consumption in 2012 were found in Sweden (51.0 per cent of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy), Latvia (35.8 per cent), Finland (34.3 per cent) and Austria (32.1 per cent). On the other hand, the lowest share was recorded in Malta (1.4 per cent), followed by Luxembourg (3.1 per cent), the United Kingdom (4.2 per cent) and the Netherlands (4.5 per cent).
Eurostat stressed that in 2011, Estonia was the first Member State to reach its 2020 target as the EU country managed to increase the share of renewable energy in the national energy consumption above 25 per cent. In 2012 Bulgaria and Sweden also achieved their 2020 targets (16 per cent and 49 per cent respectively).
According to Eurostat, the target to be reached by 2020 for the EU28 is a share of 20 per cent renewable energy use in gross final energy consumption.