Cyprus third in EU for fossil fuel energy

Cyprus recorded the third-largest share (89%) of fossil fuels in gross available energy in the European Union in 2020, according to the latest data from Eurostat.

Malta (97%) was the EU Member State with the highest share of fossil fuels in gross available energy, followed by the Netherlands (90%) and Cyprus (89%), Ireland (87%), and Poland (86%).

Most of the EU still largely rely on fossil fuels for their overall energy supply.

In 2020, fossil fuels made up 70% of gross available energy in the EU, down from 71% in 2019.

This percentage has decreased significantly by 13 percentage points (pp) since 1990, the first year for which data are available.

It is mostly due to the increase in renewable energy.

Most Member States had shares between 60% and 85% in 2020.

Only Sweden (31%), Finland (41%), France (48%), Latvia (57%) and Denmark (59%) had shares below 60%.

Over the past decade, all EU states registered a decrease in their share of fossil fuels in gross available energy.

The largest decrease was measured in Estonia (from 91% in 2010 to 66% in 2020; 25 pp decrease), followed by Denmark (from 81% to 59%; 22 pp decrease) and Finland (from 57% to 41%; 16 pp decrease).

On the other hand, the smallest decrease was measured in Belgium (from 78% to 76%; 2 pp decrease), followed by Germany (from 81% to 78%; 3 pp decrease) and Malta (from 100% to 97%; 3 pp decrease).

The use of fossil fuels also significantly decreased in Cyprus over the past ten years, from 96% in 2010 to 89% in 2020 (7 pp decrease).

Comparing 2020 to 2019, only two EU countries increased their share of fossil fuels in gross available energy; Lithuania (1 pp increase) and, just marginally, Malta (0.1 pp increase). Belgium’s figures remained the same.

Among the other countries, the largest decreases were in Estonia (7 pp decrease), Denmark (5 pp decrease), followed by Portugal, Latvia, Spain, Bulgaria and Luxembourg (all 4 pp decrease).