New EU data shows member states far from renewable energy goals

In Belgium, the European Union is still overly reliant on fossil fuels for transport and Member States are lagging behind in efforts to promote renewable energy sources such as sustainable biofuels, according to new EU data. The new figures confirm the importance of preserving a role in Fit for 55 policies for proven solutions such as crop-based biofuels to meet ambitious climate goals.

According to updated figures from 2021 in Eurostat’s SHARES database, the EU remains far from curbing its use of fossil fuels. The data show that in 2021 the share of renewable energy in transport (RES-T) at EU-27 level was 9.1% including multipliers under RED II. That represents a 1.2% decrease from 2020, mainly due to a change of methodology under RED II, but also to the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis which saw a strong increase in total transport energy consumption paired with a mild increase in renewable energy consumption.

Importantly, a significant amount of the reported renewable energy consumption is still artificially inflated using multipliers for certain biofuels or renewable electricity – which give a misleading picture of progress towards climate goals.