Thursday

30th Mar 2023

Renewables roll-out needs faster pace to reach EU goal

  • Solar panels in the Netherlands. Despite an increase in the share of renewable energy, there is still some way to go to reach 2020 EU targets (Photo: PressReleaseFinder)

The European Union needs to increase the pace of rolling out renewable energy if it wants to achieve its 2020 target, new figures released on Tuesday (12 February) indicated.

The Eurostat figures showed that in 2017, 17.5 percent of the EU's energy consumption came from renewable sources, like wind, solar, hydro, or biomass.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The goal for 2020 is 20 percent.

The renewable share was 17 percent in 2016, 16.7 percent in 2015, and 16.2 percent in 2014. At that pace, the EU will only reach 19 percent by the 2020 deadline.

Nevertheless, EU commissioner for climate action Miguel Arias Canete said on Tuesday, announcing the figures, that the EU was "on track to meet 2020 renewable energy target".

According to Eurostat, the share for renewables increased in 2017 in 19 of the 28 EU member states.

Each EU state has also agreed to an individual 2020 renewables goal, which Eurostat said were already reached in 2017 by Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Romania, and Sweden.

But the two largest EU states, France and Germany, still have quite some way to go.

Germany had 15.5 percent renewable energy in 2017, and needs to be at 18 percent in 2020.

France's share in 2017 was 16.3 percent, with a 23 percent target for 2020. That gap is almost as big as the share of renewables that France has actually added since 2004.

The Netherlands was furthest away from its individual target, with 6.6 percent renewable energy in 2017, while having to reach 14 percent next year.

Ireland was at 10.7 percent, with a 16 percent goal.

Brexit bonus

The United Kingdom was placed fourth-worst at reaching the 2020 target, after the Netherlands, France, and Ireland.

It had a renewable energy share of 10.2 percent in 2017, up from 9.2 percent the year before. Its 2020 goal is 15 percent.

However, the UK is planning to leave the EU in less than seven weeks. That means that the EU directive which contains the climate targets for 2020 will also cease to apply.

Considering that the UK is the third-largest energy consumer in the EU, its departure may actually be good news for the overall target - at least statistically.

With UK energy consumption not counted after Brexit, it could be easier for the remaining 27 member states to at least reach their common goal of 20 percent renewable energy.

Of course, such an administrative sleight-of-hand would not help reach the actual goal, which is to contribute to a reduction of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

Nordic success

Since 2004, the renewables share has gone up from 8.5 to 17.5 percent.

Sweden is the EU country with the highest share of renewable energy (54.5 percent), followed by Finland (41 percent), and Latvia (39 percent).

It is biomass and hydropower in particular that account for the large share of renewables in those countries.

Feature

Wanted: Dutch backyards to build wind turbines

EU member state are obliged to increase their renewable energy reliance. But the construction of wind turbines near residential areas in the Netherlands is being met with fierce resistance.

Why is Netherlands so far behind on renewables?

Despite its historic connotation with windmills and dams, the Netherlands is in fact far behind most EU countries in the production of energy from renewable sources - alongside stragglers such as Malta, Luxembourg and Belgium.

EU unveils €800bn offshore renewables plan

The European Commission aims to increase the bloc's wind energy production at sea massively, reaching at least 300 GW by 2050 - a 25-fold increase from the bloc's current offshore wind capacity of 12 GW

Opinion

Dear EU, the science is clear: burning wood for energy is bad

The EU and the bioenergy industry claim trees cut for energy will regrow, eventually removing extra CO2 from the atmosphere. But regrowth is not certain, and takes time, decades or longer. In the meantime, burning wood makes climate change worse.

Opinion

EU's new critical raw materials act could be a recipe for conflict

Solar panels, wind-turbines, electric vehicle batteries and other green technologies require minerals including aluminium, cobalt and lithium — which are mined in some of the most conflict-riven nations on earth, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, and Kazakhstan.

Latest News

  1. The overlooked 'crimes against children' ICC arrest warrant
  2. EU approves 2035 phaseout of polluting cars and vans
  3. New measures to shield the EU against money laundering
  4. What does China really want? Perhaps we could try asking
  5. Dear EU, the science is clear: burning wood for energy is bad
  6. Biden's 'democracy summit' poses questions for EU identity
  7. Finnish elections and Hungary's Nato vote in focus This WEEK
  8. EU's new critical raw materials act could be a recipe for conflict

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Azerbaijan Embassy9th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and 1st Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting
  2. EFBWWEU Social Dialogue review – publication of the European Commission package and joint statement of ETUFs
  3. Oxfam InternationalPan Africa Program Progress Report 2022 - Post Covid and Beyond
  4. WWFWWF Living Planet Report
  5. Europan Patent OfficeHydrogen patents for a clean energy future: A global trend analysis of innovation along hydrogen value chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us