Renewable energy in Europe - approximated recent growth and knock-on effects
Technical Report No 1/2015
This report introduces several methods the European Environment Agency (EEA) has developed for assessing and communicating early RES growth and the important knock-on effects that RES growth has on the energy sector and related areas.
Key Findings
According to EEA-approximated estimates, the EU-wide share of gross final consumption of renewables continued to increase, from 14.1 % in 2012 to 14.9 % in 2013. In 2013, this progress enabled the EU to meet the 12.1 % indicative target for 2013–2014 in line with the Renewable Energy Directive, as well as the 13.7 % expected EU-wide share for gross final renewable energy consumption in line with the National Renewable Energy Action Plans adopted by countries.
The renewable electricity sector grew faster and contributed the most to absolute growth in renewables use across all EU countries.
By reducing the demand for imported fossil fuels renewable technologies also increase energy security. Without the additional use of renewable energy since 2005, the EU's consumption of fossil fuels would have been about 7 % higher in 2012. Coal was the fuel most substituted by renewables across Europe (13 %).
Fossil fuels continue to dominate the energy mix in most Member States as well as across the EU, giving rise to climate change, air pollution and other environmental pressures. Today, renewable energy is already a significant option for climate change mitigation and reduction of (often imported) fossil fuels.