Natural gas, oil, solid fossil fuels and non-renewable waste accounted for more than half (50.9%) of industry’s final energy consumption in 2021, Eurostat revealed on 12 May.
“In absolute figures, this dependence (on industry) becomes even more evident since more than one-third of the electricity and more than half of the heat produced in the EU in 2021 came from fossil fuels”, the study says.
The industry sector was, in fact, the third largest consumer of final energy in the EU in 2021 (25.6% of final energy consumption in the EU), after transport and households.
Electricity (33.2%) and natural gas (32.7%) accounted for two thirds of this final energy consumption in the industry sector.
The European industrial sector that consumed the most final energy in 2021 was the chemical and petrochemical sector (characterised by a high dependence on gas), accounting for one fifth of final energy consumption (2,159 petajoules or 21.5%). It was followed by non-metallic minerals (1,420 PJ or 14.1%), paper, pulp and printing (1,361 PJ or 13.6%), food, beverages and tobacco (1,168 PJ or 11.6%) and iron and steel (1,027 PJ or 10.2%).
To see the Eurostat publication: https://aeur.eu/f/6x4 (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)