2.2 What do we produce in the EU?

The production of energy in the EU is spread across a range of different energy sources: solid fuels (largely coal), natural gas, crude oil, nuclear energy and renewable energy (such as hydro, wind and solar energy).

Nuclear energy (29 % of total EU energy production) was the largest contributing source to energy production in the EU in 2015. Renewable energy (27 %) was the second largest source, followed by solid fuels (19 %), natural gas (14 %) and crude oil (10 %).

However, the production of energy is very different from one Member State to another. The significance of nuclear energy is particularly high in France (83 % of total national energy production), Belgium (65 %) and Slovakia (63 %). Renewable energy is the main source of energy produced in a number of Member States, with over 90 % (of the energy produced within the country) in Malta, Latvia, Portugal, Cyprus and Lithuania. Solid fuels have the highest importance in Poland (80 %), Estonia (76 %) and Greece (68 %), while natural gas is the main source of energy produced in the Netherlands (82 %). Crude oil is the major source of energy produced in Denmark (49 %) and the United Kingdom (39 %).