Brussels, 18/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - In 2013, renewable energy technologies continued to grow in the European Union, making them an important driving force in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving energy security and increasing energy savings, according to a technical report by the European Environment Agency (EEA), published on Tuesday 17 February.
However, while the EU is on track to meet its goals for 2020 and 2030, it will have to up its game if it is to achieve its targets for decarbonising its economy by 2050, the EEA says too.
The report, “Renewable energy in Europe approximate recent growth and knock-on effects,” reveals that, in 2013, renewable energy increased its share of total primary energy consumption in all EU member states except Cyprus. Sweden, Latvia, Finland and Austria were the top performers (more than a third of final energy consumption), while Malta, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK were all below 5%.
Across Europe, renewable energy accounted for 14.9% of consumption (compared with 14.1% in 2012). The EU is thus doing better than the 12.1% indicative target set for 2013-2014 in the renewable energy directive and better than the 13.7% expected collectively from national plans. The EU is, then, on track to achieve its goal of at least 20% of energy from renewable sources by 2020 and at least 27% by 2030.
The renewable heating and cooling market contributed most in 2013 (50% of final renewable energy consumption), but the EEA notes that generation of green electricity (42%) is growing fastest in absolute terms in the use of renewables in all member states, thanks to the development of offshore windfarms. The use of renewable energy in transport, on the other hand, shrank in half of the member states and across the EU as a whole (-6.9%).
The report shows that the rise in renewable energy use since 2005 has had a positive impact of attenuation of climate change. Without the additional use of renewable energy since 2005, the EU's greenhouse gas emissions would have been about 7% higher in 2012 than they were, and consumption in the EU of fossil fuels would have been 7% higher.
The most substituted fuel was coal, where consumption would have been 13% higher, while natural gas use would have been 7% higher, at a time when European gas reserves are dwindling, the EEA highlights. Replacement of oil and liquid fossil fuels has been less spectacular. (Aminata Niang)