Which EU Countries are on Track to Achieve 2020 Renewable Energy Targets?

It has recently been reported that in 2010 renewable energy sources provided 12.4% of overall energy consumption within the European Union, up from 11.7% in 2009.

Sweden sourced the largest amount of its energy from renewable energy at a total of 47.9%. Latvia, Finland, and Austria also did well, using renewable energy to contribute over 30% of their electricity consumption. Malta (0.4%), Luxembourg (2.8%), the UK (3.2%), and the Netherlands (3.8%) performed the worst.

As part of the 2009 Directive on renewable energy EU member countries set individual renewable energy targets that they aim to achieve by 2020, however as it stands not all of the countries are on course to achieve these targets. A list compiled by Eurostat shows the share that renewable energy made of total energy consumption in countries across the EU, along with the 2020 target.

The figures show that all EU countries increased the share of total energy consumption created from renewable sources between 2006 and 2010. Estonia increased their renewable energy capacity by the most, from 16.1% in 2006 to 24.3% in 2010.

Share of renewable energy (in % of gross final energy consumption)
Country               2006    2007    2008    2009    2010    2020 target

Malta                   0.2      0.2       0.2       0.2      0.4      10.0
Luxembourg         1.4      2.7       2.8       2.8      2.8      11.0
United Kingdom    1.5      1.8       2.3       2.9      3.2      15.0
Cyprus                 2.5      3.1       4.1       4.6      4.8      13.0
Belgium               2.7       3.0       3.3      4.6        :        13.0
Netherlands          2.7      3.1       3.4       4.1      3.8      14.0
Ireland                  2.9      3.3      3.9       5.1       5.5      16.0
Hungary               5.1       5.9      6.6       8.1        :        13.0
Italy                     5.8       5.7      7.1       8.9     10.1      17.0
Czech Republic    6.5       7.4      7.6       8.5      9.2      13.0
Slovakia               6.6      8.2       8.4      10.4     9.8      14.0
Germany              6.9      9.0       9.1       9.5     11.0     18.0
Greece                 7.0      8.1       8.0      8.1      9.2      18.0
Poland                 7.0      7.0       7.9       8.9      9.4      15.0
EU27*                  9.0      9.9      10.5     11.7     12.4     20.0
Spain                   9.0      9.5      10.6     12.8     13.8     20.0
France**               9.6    10.2      11.1      11.9       :        23.0
Bulgaria               9.6      9.3       9.8       11.9     13.8    16.0
Croatia               13.8     12.4      12.2     13.2     14.6     20.0
Slovenia              15.5     15.6     15.1     18.9     19.8     25.0
Estonia               16.1     17.1     18.9      23.0    24.3     25.0
Denmark             16.5     18.0     18.8      20.2    22.2     30.0
Lithuania             16.9     16.6     17.9      20.0    19.7     23.0
Romania             17.1     18.3     20.3      22.4    23.4     24.0
Portugal              20.8     22.0     23.0      24.6    24.6     31.0
Austria               26.6      28.9     29.2      31.0    30.1     34.0
Finland               29.9      29.5     31.1      31.1    32.2     38.0
Latvia                 31.1      29.6     29.8      34.3    32.6     40.0
Sweden              42.7     44.2      45.2      48.1   47.9      49.0
Norway               60.6     60.5      62.0      65.1   61.1     67.5
SOURCE: Eurostat
NOTES: * - EU27 aggregate contain estimates of missing data
** - France métropolitaine, excluding the four overseas departments (French Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion)
: - Data not available

By. Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com