In 2024, electricity accounted for 33.3% of final energy consumption in the industrial sector, according to data from Eurostat published on Friday 29 May. Natural gas accounted for 31.9%, oil and petroleum products 10.4%, renewables and biofuels 11.3%, derived heat 5.5%, and solid fossil fuels (coal, manufactured gases, peat, oil shale and oil sands) 5.5%, while the remaining 2.1% came from non-renewable waste.
The use of solid fossil fuels fell by 79.8% between 1990 and 2024, while that of oil and petroleum products declined by 58.3% over the same period. “Renewables and biofuels followed a slow but steady upward trend in the same period” (+101.1%), Eurostat analyses. In volume terms, these reached 999 petajoules in 2024, while oil stood at 922 PJ and solid fossil fuels at 484 PJ.
The industrial sector accounted for 23.9% of final energy consumption in the EU in 2024, making it the third-largest consumer after transport (31.4%) and households (25.5%). However, total final energy consumption in industry fell by 30.9% between 1990 and 2024.
Disparities across sectors. The chemical and petrochemical industry was the largest consumer of industrial energy in the EU in 2024 (22.9%), followed by non-metallic minerals (14.1%) and food, beverages and tobacco (13.8%) in third place, thus overtaking the paper and printing industry (12.1%). The iron and steel industry ranked fifth, with consumption reaching 10.5%.
See the full statistics: https://aeur.eu/f/m4m (Original version in French by Nadège Delépine)