Renewable energies accounted for 19.5% of the total energy used in 2017 for heating and cooling in the European Union, according to data published on Monday 4 March by the European Commission. This is a significant increase from the 10.4% share of renewable energy in 2004.
“The growth of these energies in the industrial, service and household sectors has contributed to this increase”, the Commission explains.
The thermal energy captured by the heat pumps was also taken into account in the data.
In four EU Member States, more than half of the total energy used for heating and cooling came from renewable energy sources in 2017: Sweden (69.1%), Finland (54.8%), Latvia (54.6%) and Estonia (51.6%). In contrast, the lowest shares were recorded in the Netherlands (5.9%), Ireland (6.9%) and the United Kingdom (7.5%).
The shares of other countries were 32% in Austria, 21.3% in France, 13.4% in Germany, 14.5% in Poland, 8% in Belgium, 17.5% in Spain, 34.4% in Portugal and 20.1% in Italy.
The 2009 Renewable Energy Directive set a binding target that 20% of energy consumption in the EU should come from renewable energy sources by 2020. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)