The EU’s dependence on fossil fuels for its overall energy supply rose to 70.9% in 2022, according to a report published by Eurostat on Tuesday 30 January. This is a slight increase on 2021 levels, when it stood at 69.9%.
This percentage has fallen in recent decades by around 11.5 percentage points since 1990, mainly due to the increase in renewable energy production.
In 2022, the EU countries with the highest share of fossil fuels in gross available energy were Malta (96.1%), Cyprus (89.3%) and the Netherlands (87.6%). Most other EU countries had shares of between 50% and 85%. Only Sweden (30.4%) and Finland (38.3%) had shares below 50%.
The largest decreases between 2021 and 2022 in the share of fossil fuels in gross available energy remain relatively small, and were recorded in Latvia (-3.7 pp), Slovakia (-2.1 pp) and Hungary (-1.9 pp). Estonia (+4.2%), France (+2.9%) and Bulgaria (2.8%) recorded the biggest increases.
Eurostat notes that 2022 was an exceptional year from an energy point of view, and that although renewable energy sources increased, nuclear energy production declined in 2022.
To see the Eurostat publication: https://aeur.eu/f/an9 (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)