The European Union's first energy efficiency directive was adopted in 2012. With the availability of data for year 2022, the latest data on energy consumption can now be compared with those 10 years ago when the directive was adopted.
In 2022, primary energy consumption in the EU reached 1 257 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe), a 4.1% decrease compared with 2021. Data show that in 2022 the EU moved closer to the 2030 target of 992.5 Mtoe with the gap narrowing to 26.7%, after registering a wider difference in 2021 (31.2% away from the target).
When comparing 2022 with 2012, primary energy consumption decreased in the Union by 10.0 %. In 7 EU Member States the primary energy consumption decreased more, most notably in Greece (-21.2 %), France (-17.7 %) and the Netherlands (-16.0 %).
On the other side, there were 6 countries, where the primary energy consumption was higher in 2022 than in 2012. In 3 countries, these increases in primary energy consumption are above 5 %: Bulgaria (+6.2 %), Poland (+6.1 %) and Lithuania(+5.5 %).
Latvia ranks somewhere in the middle, having reduced its primary energy consumption by a modest 3 %.
Final energy consumption in the EU reached 940 Mtoe in 2022, a 2.8% decrease compared with 2021. In 2022, final energy consumption was 23.3% away from the 2030 target (763 Mtoe), while in 2021, it was 26.8% away from it.
Final energy consumption of the EU in 2022 was 4.3 % lower than in 2012. In 10 countries the decrease was even more pronounced, with the Netherlands (-16.6 %), Luxembourg (-11.9 %) and France (-9.7 %) registering the highest decrease. On the other side, the highest increases were in Malta (+37.8%), Poland (+12.3%) and Ireland (+11.4%).
Again, Latvia recorded a modest improvement, a reduction of 2 % in final energy consumption.
