Malta had the lowest share of renewables among EU countries in 2015, according to the statistical office of the European Union.
Eurostat said that the share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy reached 16.7% in the European Union in 2015, nearly double the figure in 2004 (8.5%), the first year for which data is available.
The share of renewables in gross final consumption of energy is one of the headline indicators of the Europe 2020 strategy. The target to be reached for the EU by 2020 is a share of 20% energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy.
However, renewables will continue to play a key role in helping the EU meet its energy needs beyond 2020. Member states agreed on a new EU renewable energy target of at least 27% by 2030.
Since 2004, the share of renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy grew significantly in all member states.
With more than half (53.9%) of energy from renewable sources in its gross final consumption of energy, Sweden had the highest share by far in 2015, ahead of Finland (39.3%), Latvia (37.6%), Austria (33%) and Denmark (30.8%).
At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest proportions of renewables were registered in Luxembourg and Malta (both 5%), the Netherlands (5.8%), Belgium (7.9%) and the United Kingdom (8.2%).
Each EU state has its own Europe 2020 target.
The national targets took into account the member’s different starting points, renewable energy potential and economic performance.
Among the 28 EU states, 11, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Croatia, Italy, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania, Finland and Sweden, have already reached the level required to meet their national 2020 targets. Moreover, Austria and Slovakia are about 1 percentage point from their 2020 targets.
According to the 2016 edition of the European Environment Agency (EEA) Trends and Projections in Europe report, Malta is the only EU Member State which is not on track to achieve its targets in all three areas of the EU’s Climate and Energy 2020 directive, namely on greenhouse gas emission reductions, renewables and energy efficiency.