Renewable energy: the European Commission's new progress report says EU countries will meet the 20% renewable energy goal

On Tuesday 16 June, the European Commission published the 2015 progress report on renewable energy. This report follows the path of EU countries to meet their target of 20% renewable energy in the overall energy supply by 2020.

Progress reports on renewable energy are published every two years. Based on national reports, the European Commission produces a report on the global progress of EU countries.

The 2015 report shows that:

  • 25 EU countries will meet their 2013/2014 interim targets;
  • In 2014, the projected share of renewable energy in the gross final energy consumption is 15.3%;
  • Europe has three times more renewable energy power per capita than the rest of the world;
  • The share of renewable energy in transport still need to be impoved in order to meet the goals.

Renewable energy will allow Europe to tackle ecological crisis as much as economic crisis. Indeed, today more than one million people are working in this sector in Europe. It represents over 130 billion euros a year. The 2020 target resulted in 326 Mt of avoided CO2 emissions in 2012 and 388 Mt in 2013. Moreover, EU countries have reduced their energy dependency to fossil fuels.