Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office, has released its 2023 report on renewable energy, revealing that 24.5% of the EU’s gross final energy consumption came from renewable sources, marking an increase of 1.4 percentage points compared to 2022. However, this figure still falls 18 percentage points short of the EU’s 2030 target of 42.5%. To meet this goal, an average annual increase of 2.6 percentage points would be required from 2024 to 2030.
Sweden leads the EU in renewable energy adoption, with 66.4% of its gross final consumption sourced from renewables in 2023. This is largely driven by the use of solid biofuels, hydropower, and wind energy. Finland follows closely behind with 50.8%, while Denmark ranks third at 44.9%, both relying predominantly on solid biofuels, wind, and hydro power.
At the other end of the spectrum, Luxembourg recorded the lowest share of renewables, at 11.6%, with Belgium (14.7%) and Malta (15.1%) also lagging behind the EU average.
The growth of renewable electricity in the EU between 2013 and 2023 has been primarily fueled by the expansion of wind and solar power. In 2023, renewable electricity made up 45.3% of gross electricity consumption, up from 41.2% in 2022. Of this, wind power accounted for 38.5%, while hydropower contributed 28.2%. Solar energy, which is the fastest-growing renewable source, made up 20.5%, followed by solid biofuels at 6.2%, and other clean sources at 6.6%.
Solar energy has experienced remarkable growth, with its share rising from just 1% in 2008 to 252.1 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2023. Austria leads the EU in renewable electricity, with 87.8% of its consumption derived from renewables, followed closely by Sweden at 87.5% and Denmark at 79.4%. Other countries like Portugal (63.0%), Spain (56.9%), and Finland (52.4%) also have significant shares of renewable electricity.
On the other hand, countries like Malta (10.7%), the Czech Republic (16.4%), Luxembourg (18.0%), and Hungary (19.5%) have renewable electricity shares of less than 20%.
Notably, Norway and Albania, both non-EU countries, produced more renewable electricity than they consumed in 2023, resulting in a renewable share exceeding 100%.
