Renewables in EU heating, cooling almost unchanged at 22.9% in 2021

The usage of renewable energy for heating and cooling in the EU is gradually increasing, although in percentage terms it registered a slight decrease of 0.1 percentage points in 2021 due to increased consumption of all fuels after the removal of COVID-19 restrictions, according to an Eurostat article on Friday.

In 2021, the share of renewable energy in gross final consumption for heating and cooling purposes was 22.9%, down from 23.0% in 2020. For comparison, that share was 11.7% in 2004.

The expansion is mainly a result of the contribution of biomass and heat pumps.

The countries with the highest renewables shares in heating and cooling are Sweden with 68.6%, Estonia - 61.3%, Latvia - 57.4%, and Finland - 52.6%. At the opposite end are Ireland with 5.2%, the Netherlands - 7.7%, and Belgium 9.2%.

Energy for heating and cooling accounts for almost 50% of the bloc’s total gross final energy consumption.

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