Latvia third in Europe for renewables

The share of renewable sources in gross final energy consumption at the EU level reached 23.0% in 2022, according to Eurostat data published December 22. Compared with 2021, this represents an increase of 1.1 percentage points (pp), an Latvia has retained it place as one of Europe's leaders in renewable energy. 

The revised Renewable Energy Directive has revised upwards the EU’s 2030 renewable energy target from 32% to 42.5% (with an aim to increase it to 45%) – a target Latvia already meets. More than 50% of Latvia's gross electricity consumption (53.3%) came from renewable sources.

Renewable energy use in EU, 2022
Renewable energy use in EU, 2022

Among the EU Member States the share of energy from renewable sources in heating and cooling was more than half in Sweden (69.4 %), Estonia (65.4 %), Latvia (61.0 %), Finland (58.5 %), Lithuania (51.5 %) and Denmark (50.1 %).

However, when it comes to use of renewables in transport, Latvia performs poorly. The average share of energy from renewable sources in transport across the EU increased from 1.6 % in 2004 to 9.6 % in 2022. Among the EU Member States, the share of renewable energy in transport fuel consumption ranged from highs of 29.2 % in Sweden and 18.8 % in Finland down to less than 5 % in Croatia (2.4 %), Latvia (3.1 %) and Greece (4.1 %).

Sweden leads among EU countries, with nearly two-thirds (66.0%) of its gross final energy consumption in 2022 derived from renewable sources. Sweden relied primarily on hydro, wind, solid and liquid biofuels, as well as heat pumps.

Finland (47.9%) followed, also relying on hydro, wind and solid biofuels, ahead of Latvia (43.3%), which depended mostly on hydro.

Both Denmark (41.6%), followed by Estonia (38.5%), got most of the renewables from wind and solid biofuels. Portugal (34.7%) relied on solid biofuels, wind, hydro and heat pumps, while Austria (33.8%) utilised mostly hydro and solid biofuels.

The lowest proportions of renewables were recorded in Ireland (13.1%), Malta (13.4%), Belgium (13.8%) and Luxembourg (14.4%).  

In total, 17 of the 27 EU members reported shares below the EU average of 23.0% in 2022.
 

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