site.btaEurostat: Bulgaria Registers Largest Drop in Share of Green Energy in EU in 2022

The share of gross final energy consumption from renewable sources was 16.8% in Bulgaria in 2021. Compared to 2020, the country has recorded the largest decrease in this share of gross final consumption among EU countries - by 6.5%, from 23.3% to 16.8%.

The share of gross final energy consumption from renewable sources at EU level reached 21.8% in 2021. Compared with 2020, this was a 0.3% decrease and the first decrease ever recorded, according to the latest data published by Eurostat on Thursday. 

On the promotion of renewable energy, the EU has set a target for the share of green energy to reach 32% of total energy consumption by 2030. The 21.8% share recorded in 2021 is still well below this target. In 2021, the European Commission issued a proposal for an amendment to the Renewable Energy Directive, according to which the share of renewable energy should reach 40% of final consumption. In 2022, the REPowerEU plan raised this target further to 45%.

In total, 15 of the 27 EU members reported shares below the EU average in 2021 (Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia). 

The lowest proportions of renewables were recorded in Luxembourg (11.7%), Malta (12.2%), the Netherlands (12.3%), Ireland (12.5%) and Belgium (13.0%). 

With more than half of their energy from renewable sources in its gross final consumption of energy, Sweden (62.6%, relying mostly on a mix of biomass, hydro, wind, heat pumps and liquid biofuels) had by far the highest share among the EU Member States in 2021, ahead of Finland (43.1%) and Latvia (42.1%) (both using mostly biomass and hydro), Estonia (37.6%, relying mostly on biomass and wind), Austria (36.4%, mostly hydro and biomass) and Denmark (34.7%, mostly biomass and wind).

In addition to the effect that lifting COVID-19 restrictions in 2021 had on increasing energy consumption, which decreased the share of renewables (despite an increase in renewable energy production in absolute terms compared with 2020), a change in methodology also helps explain this development.