In Cyprus, the share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption reached 13.9% in 2018, exceeding the 13% national target set for 2020 but it is bottom for transport.
It was up from 10.5% in 2017 and only 3.1% in 2004, but Cyprus has the EU’s lowest share when it comes to renewable energy in transport, according to Eurostat.
Renewable energy consumption was 18% in the EU, up from 17.5% in 2017 and more than double the share in 2004 (8.5%).
In Greece, the rate reached an estimate of 18% in 2018, up from 17% in 2017 and 7.2% in 2004, while the national target was 18% for 2020.
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 Member States have already reached a share equal to or above their national 2020 binding targets: Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus, Finland and Sweden.
Four Member States are close to meet their targets (i.e. less than 1 percentage point (pp) away), nine are between 1 and 4 pp away, while three are 4 or more pp away from their targets.
In 2018, the share of renewable sources in gross final energy consumption increased in 21 of the 28 Member States compared with 2017, while remaining stable in one Member State and decreasing in six.
Since 2004, it has significantly grown in all Member States.
Sweden had by far the highest share with more than half (54.6%) of its energy coming from renewable sources, ahead of Finland (41.2%), Latvia (40.3%), Denmark (36.1%) and Austria (33.4%).
At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest proportion of renewables was registered in the Netherlands (7.4%).
Low shares, less than 10%, were also recorded in Malta (8.0%), Luxembourg (9.1%) and Belgium (9.4%).
When it comes to the 2020 national targets, Romania is 0.1 percentage point (pp) away from its national 2020 objective, Hungary, Austria and Portugal are less than 1 pp away and Germany, Luxembourg and Malta around 2 pp away from their 2020 targets.
At the opposite end of the scale, the Netherlands (6.6 pp), France (6.4 pp), Ireland (4.9 pp), the United Kingdom (4.0 pp) and Slovenia (3.9 pp) are the furthest away from their targets.
Meanwhile, the share of energy used for transport that comes from renewable sources stood at 8.0% in the EU, compared with 7.1% in 2017, 3.9% in 2008 and 1.4% in 2004, the first year for which data are available.
Compared with 2017, the share of energy from renewable sources used for transport increased in 21 of the 28 Member States in 2018, remained stable in two Member States and decreased in five.
Sweden, with 29.7%, had by far the highest share of renewable energy in transport fuel consumption, ahead of Finland with 14.1%, the Netherlands 9.6% and Austria 9.8%.
At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest proportion was recorded in Cyprus (2.7%). Low shares (below 4%) were also recorded in Croatia, Greece and Estonia.
