With a share of 17%, the European Union (EU) is just short of the Europe 2020 headline target of 20% for the use of energy derived from renewable sources in its gross final consumption of energy (see Eurostat news release 17/2018 for more information).
The Europe 2020 strategy also has a specific sub-indicator on the share of transport fuels that come from renewable sources. The target for this sub-indicator is 10%. Calculations are made in accordance with Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources.
10% target achieved only in Sweden and Austria
In 2016, Sweden (30.3% of renewable fuel energy used in transport) and Austria (10.6%) were the only two Member States to reach the target of using 10% of renewable fuel energy for transport. While France (8.9%) and Finland (8.4%) were relatively close to achieving the target, most of the other EU Member States were around the half-way point to meeting the 2020 objective. With a use of less than 3% of energy from renewables in transport, Estonia (0.4%), Croatia (1.3%), Greece (1.4%) and Slovenia (1.6%), followed by Cyprus (2.7%) and Latvia (2.8%) were furthest from the 10% target.
Sweden and Spain had the largest increases in their share of transport fuel from renewable energy sources between 2015 and 2016, while the use of this type of energy fell significantly in Finland.
At EU level, the share of energy from renewable sources in transport stood at 7.1% in 2016, compared with 6.6% the year before and 1.4% in 2004.
Explore further:
Eurostat "SHARES 2016 results".
Eurostat Statistics Explained article "Renewable energy statistics".
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