The share of renewable energy sources in heating and cooling energy reached 26 per cent in the EU in 2023, according to figures released by the EU’s statistics agency Eurostat.
This share represented an increase of 1.2 percentage points 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. This is mostly due to the contribution of biomass and heat pumps.
Among the EU countries, Sweden led the way again in 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%).
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).
Statistics Explained article on renewable energy, Eurostat
Webpage on the short assessment of renewable energy resources (SHARES)
Datasets related to the share of energy from renewable sources
