Renewable use below EU average

In Cyprus, the share of gross final energy consumption from renewable sources improved to 18.4% in 2021 but is still below the European average of 21.8%.

However, it has increased steadily since 2004 and the country’s accession into the EU, Eurostat data on Friday show.

Compared to 2020, the share increased by 1.5 percentage points (from 16.9%). In 2019, the share had been at 13.8%.

The share of gross final energy consumption from renewable sources at the EU level was 21.8%, marking a slight decrease of 0.3 percentage points (pp) from 2020 (the first decrease ever recorded).

The EU set an EU-wide target for a 32% share of renewables by 2030.

Also, in 2021 the Commission proposed amending the target to 40%, and in 2022 it included a further proposal in its REPowerEU plan, which would bring the target to 45%.

Sweden leads the way, but 15 member states are below the EU average.

With more than half of its energy from renewable sources in its final gross energy consumption, Sweden (62.6%, relying mostly on a mix of biomass, hydro, wind, heat pumps and liquid biofuels) had by far the highest share among the EU Member States in 2021.

Sweden is followed by Finland (43.1%) and Latvia (42.1%) (both using mostly biomass and hydro), Estonia (37.6%, relying mostly on biomass and wind), Austria (36.4%, mostly hydro and biomass) and Denmark (34.7%, mostly biomass and wind).

In total, 15 of the 27 EU members reported shares below the EU average (Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia).

The lowest proportions of renewables were recorded in Luxembourg (11.7%), Malta (12.2%), the Netherlands (12.3%), Ireland (12.5%) and Belgium (13.0%).