Share of renewable heating in the EU rises, Czechia slightly above average

The share of renewable energy sources (RES) in gross final energy consumption in the heating and cooling sector across European Union countries continues to grow, reaching 26.2 % in 2023. This represented a year-on-year increase of 1.2 percentage points (pp.) and nearly 15 pp. since 2004, when the figures began to be tracked. The European statistical office Eurostat reported.

Eurostat said that gross final consumption of renewable energy in the heating and cooling sector is growing mainly thanks to the increasing use of biomass and heat pumps. The office further noted that European legislation requires Member States to increase their shares of renewable energy in heating and cooling by at least 0.8 pp. between 2021 and 2025, and subsequently by 1.1 pp. between 2026 and 2030.

"Compared to 2022, 21 EU countries recorded an increase in the share of renewable sources 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 hand, declines were also recorded 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.)," Eurostat said.

Scandinavia and the Baltics lead, Czechia above average

Looking at the shares of RES in heating and cooling in individual EU Member States, the dominance of Scandinavian and Baltic countries is clear.

The outright leader is Sweden with a 67.1% share, followed by Estonia with 66.7 % and Latvia with 61.4 %. While Sweden and Estonia top the statistics thanks to a combination of biomass and heat pumps, Latvia relies exclusively on biomass.

Czechia also relies heavily on biomass in this area, and its share of 27.8 % is slightly above the EU-wide average.

At the other end of the ranking, the countries with the lowest shares are Ireland (7.9 %), the Netherlands (10.2 %) and Belgium (11.3 %).