Renewables: EU consumption in 2016 rises to 17%, Italy to 17.4%
Renewable energy consumption continues to grow in Europe. In 2016, the share of energy produced from clean sources, in the gross final consumption, has reached the 17% throughout the European Union, almost doubling the figure of 2004 (to 8.5%). This is what emerges from the Eurostat data. The EU objective is to achieve 20% of the gross final consumption of energy from renewable sources by 2020, and at least 27% by 2030. At the moment, the highest share of renewable energy by country shows Sweden at the top of the ranking, while Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands are in the lowest positions. Since 2004, the share of renewables in the gross final energy consumption has increased significantly in all the Member States, according to Eurostat. Compared to 2015, it has increased in 15 States out of 28. With more than half (53.8%) of the energy produced from renewable sources in its gross final energy consumption, Sweden was by far the country with the highest penetration of clean sources in 2016, followed by Finland (38.7%), Latvia (37.2%), Austria (33.5%), and Denmark (32.2%). On the contrary, the lowest share of renewable energies was recorded in Luxembourg (5.4%), Malta and the Netherlands (both 6%). In relation to the targets set for renewables, 11 out of the 28 EU Member States have already achieved the level required by 2020: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Croatia, Italy, Lithuania, Romania, Finland, Sweden and Hungary. Austria is less than 1 percentage point away, while the Netherlands (8%), France (7%), Ireland (6.5%), the United Kingdom (5.7%) and Luxembourg (5.6%) are the furthest away from their targets. Italy is currently above the EU average, with 17.4%.
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