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The use of renewable energy sources in heating and cooling continues to increase in the EU, with the share of energy from renewables in those areas reaching 26.2% in 2023, the highest value since the time series started in 2004 (11.7%). The share increased by 1.2 percentage points (pp) compared with 2022 (25.0%). EU directive 2023/2413 of 18 October 2023 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources requires EU countries to increase their annual average share of renewables in heating and cooling by at least 0.8 pp from 2021 to 2025 and by at least 1.1 pp from 2026 to 2030.

In absolute terms, the gross final consumption of renewable energy for heating and cooling purposes in the EU has gradually increased over time, mostly due to the contribution of biomass and heat pumps. 

Among the EU countries, Sweden led the way again in 2023 when it came to renewables in heating and cooling, with a 67.1% share, followed by Estonia (66.7%). Both countries use mostly biomass and heat pumps. They were followed by Latvia (61.4%), which relies mainly on biomass.

In contrast, the lowest shares of renewable sources in heating and cooling were recorded in Ireland (7.9%), the Netherlands (10.2%) and Belgium (11.3%).

Renewable energy sources in heating and cooling, 2023 (% of energy from renewable sources). Bar chart. Full dataset available in the link below.

Source dataset: nrg_in_ren

Compared with 2022, 21 EU countries registered an increase in the shares of renewables used in heating and cooling. Austria (+8.1 pp), Malta (+7.5 pp) and Greece (+4.9 pp) recorded the largest increases between 2022 and 2023. 

On the other end of the scale, decreases were registered in Sweden (-2.7 pp), Poland (-2.2 pp), Slovakia (-1.1 pp), Croatia (-1.0 pp), Germany (-0.5 pp) and Luxembourg (-0.1 pp).

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Methodological notes

  • Data for gross final consumption of renewable energy for heating and cooling available on source dataset nrg_ind_urhcd.
  • Renewable energy sources used for heating and cooling include solar thermal, geothermal energy, ambient heat captured by heat pumps for heating (and from 2021 onwards, renewable cooling, as per the renewable energy directive  (RED II)), solid, liquid and gaseous biofuels, and the renewable part of waste. To avoid double counting, renewable electricity used to drive heat pumps is not accounted in the share for heating and cooling, but only in the share of renewables in electricity. Heat produced from liquid biofuels can only be accounted if they comply with sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria. In addition, solid and gaseous biofuels combusted in installations above a certain threshold also need to comply with sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria.
  • Data until 2020 are calculated on the basis of Directive 2009/28/EC (RED I), while data for 2021 and 2022 follow  directive (EU) 2018/2001 of 11 December 2018 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (RED II). Due to the change in the legal basis, a break in the series occurs between 2020 and 2021. The SHARES Manual provides details on the methodology used for the calculation of the share of renewables.

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