In 2014, the proportion of renewable energy in EU energy consumption increased to 16%

In 2014, the proportion of renewable energy in EU energy consumption increased to 16%。

On February 16th, the Eurostat released data showing that the proportion of renewable energy in energy consumption in the EU increased to 16% in 2014, almost doubling from 8.5% in 2004. The EU member states with the highest proportion of renewable energy are Sweden (52.6%), Latvia and Finland (both 38.7%), Austria (33.1%), and Denmark (29.2%); The member countries with the lowest proportion are Luxembourg (4.5%), Malta (4.7%), the Netherlands (5.5%), and the United Kingdom (7.0%).

The EU has set a goal of renewable energy accounting for 20% of energy consumption by 2020 and further increasing to 27% by 2030. Each member state has also set their own national targets. According to the latest data, nine of the 28 EU member states, including Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Italy, Lithuania, Romania, Finland, and Sweden, have achieved their 2020 national emission reduction targets, while Denmark and Austria are less than one percentage point away from their targets. On the other hand, France has the largest gap from the 2020 emission reduction target, still 8.7 percentage points behind, while the Netherlands, the UK, and Ireland have differences of 8.5, 8.0, and 7.4 percentage points respectively.