Czech Republic falls to last place in EU renewable electricity share

The Czech Republic fell to last place among European countries in the first quarter of this year in terms of the share of electricity generated from renewable energy sources (RES) in total net electricity generation. Due to low generation from hydropower and wind plants, the indicator for the EU as a whole fell by 4.3 percentage points year on year. EU statistical office Eurostat reported this.

EU Member States had a combined 42.5% share of renewable electricity in total net electricity generation in the first quarter of this year. Compared with the first quarter of 2024, this represents a decrease of 4.3 percentage points.

"The significant increase in electricity generation from solar power plants (from 40.9 TWh in the first quarter of 2024 to 55 TWh in the first quarter of 2025) was not sufficient to offset the decline in generation from hydropower and wind plants (from 260.5 TWh to 218.5 TWh over the same period)," Eurostat said.

Denmark had the highest share of renewables in net electricity generation in the EU last year, at 88.5%, followed by Portugal at 86.6% and Croatia at 77.3%. By contrast, the lowest shares were recorded in the Czech Republic (13.4%), Malta (14.4%) and Slovakia (15.1%).

"In 19 EU countries, the share of renewable energy sources in net electricity generation fell in the first quarter of 2025 compared with the first quarter of 2024, leading to significant changes in the ranking of individual countries. This was mainly caused by lower electricity generation from hydropower and wind plants. The largest declines were therefore recorded by Greece (-12.4 percentage points), Lithuania (-12.0 percentage points) and Slovakia (-10.6 percentage points)," Eurostat added.

The published statistics further show that, despite the significant decline mentioned above, wind remained by far the largest source of renewable electricity, accounting for 42.5% of total renewable electricity generation in the EU. Hydropower accounted for 29.2%, solar for 18.1%, renewable fuel-fired plants for 9.8% and geothermal plants for 0.5%.

Rising CO2 emissions in the EU and US offset decline in China

Lower renewable electricity generation led to higher CO2 emissions in Europe, as the decline in wind and hydropower generation was mainly replaced by generation from fossil fuel-fired plants. Electricity generation from natural gas in the EU rose by 8% year on year in the first quarter, while the increase for coal-fired plants was two percentage points lower.

CO2 emissions from electricity generation also rose in the US in the first quarter, due to growing electricity demand and strong support for fossil fuels from the new administration of President Donald Trump.

According to data from Ember, the United States and Europe emitted a combined 801 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in the electricity generation sector in the first quarter of this year, 53 million tonnes, or 7%, more than in the same period of 2024.

Despite the increase in CO2 emissions from electricity generation in the US and Europe, global CO2 emissions attributable to electricity generation remained virtually unchanged, thanks to a year-on-year decline of 60 million tonnes in CO2 emissions in China.