Russia’s attack on Ukraine further highlights the critical nature of energy security. Renewable resources are essential in bolstering this security and expanding the range of energy supplies.
The proportion of renewable energy sources has been increasing throughout Europe; however, it seems unlikely that multiple nations, especially those with the biggest economies, will achieve the European Union’s goals for 2030.
Upping the amount of
renewables
used to heat and cool buildings is especially important, as these uses account for nearly half of the EU’s total energy consumption according to Eurostat.
So how much of Europe’s heating and cooling energy comes from renewables? And which countries are leading the way?
In 2023, renewable energy accounted for 26.2 percent of heating and cooling consumption within the European Union, which nearly matches the percentage of renewables used across all types of energy in the union.
However, this proportion differs significantly throughout Europe — from merely 8 percent in Ireland to an impressive 84 percent in Iceland. Within the European Union, Sweden and Estonia showed the highest rates, each with 67 percent.
What factors cause certain nations to utilize greater amounts of renewable energy for heating compared to other countries?
The data set encompasses several renewable resources such as solar power and geothermal energy, biofuels, the reusable portion of waste materials, along with ambient heat extracted from the environment.
heat pumps
for heating.
Professor Pawel Oclon from Cracow University of Technology in Poland explains several factors behind the variations in renewable energy usage for heating and cooling to ecosundiaries.com Green.
This encompasses factors like climatic circumstances, accessibility of resources, and the condition of energy infrastructures. Countries that have established fossil fuel frameworks encounter more challenging shifts. Supportive policies, financial investments, and available urban areas further affect advancements.
Experts from the Institute for European Energy and Climate Policy (IEECP) – Ivana Rogulj, Jean-Sébastien Broc, Filippos Anagnostopoulos, Tomislav Novosel, Indriany Lionggo, and Stavros Spyridakos – say the extent of district heating is another key factor.
Nations with a significant portion of district heating often face an easier route when transitioning towards low-carbon heating solutions. As they point out, “It’s simpler to substitute a single large natural-gas boiler with alternatives like a heat pump, biomass boiler, or recycled heat rather than replacing numerous separate boilers with heat pumps.”
The leading positions are dominated by Nordic and Baltic nations.
The Nordic nations, excluding Norway, along with the Baltic states, top Europe in utilizing renewable energy sources for both heating and cooling purposes. Each country has shown usage rates of at least 54 percent, which is over twice the European Union’s mean rate of 26 percent.
Rana Adib, who serves as the executive director of REN21—a global coalition involving governments, industry specialists, non-governmental organizations, and scholars—notes that these countries often possess sophisticated district heating networks. These systems frequently operate primarily on renewable resources including geothermal power, reclaimed heat, or, somewhat contentious among some groups,
biomass
.
In contrast, Norway reported a notably smaller percentage of 34%. Nevertheless, the IEEP experts propose that Eurostat’s figures for Norway might be deceptive.
According to Eurostat, renewable electricity utilized to power heat pumps is excluded from the share attributed to heating and cooling to prevent double-counting.
Experts highlight that over 90 percent of Norway’s electricity originates from hydropower and wind sources. They also mention that electricity is primarily used for heating across the country.
Leading Western European economies fall short.
A number of Western European nations, encompassing the bloc’s biggest four economic powers, exhibit notably lesser adoption of renewable energy sources for heating and cooling purposes.
Of these countries, only France (30 percent) stood marginally higher than the EU average of 26 percent, with all others falling beneath this mark. This includes Italy at 22 percent, Spain at 21 percent, Germany at 17 percent, Belgium at 11 percent, and the Netherlands at 10 percent.
Ireland
(8 per cent).
Based on data from Statistica, only 7.5 percent of heating and cooling needs in the United Kingdom were met by renewable energy sources in 2018.
Adib notes that oil remains common in rural heating in Ireland, due to weak policies and minimal district heating. “Studies have shown that 54–57 per cent of total heat demand in Ireland could be met through district heating networks, yet implementation remains limited.”
The Netherlands has long relied on natural gas and has only recently begun a major effort to phase out gas boilers, she adds.
Belgium similarly depends significantly on natural gas and faces challenges due to sluggish progress in building renovations along with disjointed regional policies, which impede cohesive efforts towards energy efficiency.
She credited the limited presence of renewable energy sources in Germany, France, Italy, and Spain to the prevalent dependence on individual systems.
gas boilers
The IEECP specialists additionally observe that electric heating has been encouraged in France because of the abundant supply of nuclear power.
Austria (39.4 per cent) represents a leading example among Central European countries in the deployment of renewable energy for heating and cooling. “This strong performance is the result of a well-established tradition in the use of biomass – both in individual heating systems and within extensive district heating networks,” the IEECP experts say.
The majority of EU candidate countries showed a greater proportion of renewables used in heating and cooling than the EU average, except for Albania, where the percentage was slightly lower at 23%. For example, Montenegro achieved an outstanding rate of 67%.
Does Europe’s advancement in renewable heating meet expectations?
In the last twenty years, Europe has seen significant advancements in boosting renewable energy usage for heating and cooling purposes – jumping from roughly 11.7 percent in 2004 to about 26.2 percent by 2023, which marks its peak so far. However, many experts believe this growth falls short of what’s necessary.
“Although this progress is significant, it still falls short,” Oclon states.
Regarding the EU’s non-mandatory objective of achieving a 49 percent renewables share in buildings by 2030, Adib comments, “At this rate—which averages roughly half a percentage point every year—it is much too gradual to achieve the bloc’s environmental and energy goals.”
The IEECP specialists highlight substantial variations in advancement across different nations. They state, “A number of countries are unlikely to fulfill their commitments at this pace.”
The line graph depicted above highlights the significant variation in progress across different parts of Europe.
What policies can put European countries back on course?
Professor Oclon suggests boosting financial support for research aimed at improving the effectiveness of various renewable energy technologies such as photovoltaic panels, solar thermal collectors, heat pumps, and energy storage systems.
Adib from REN21 mentions that there are multiple significant obstacles hindering advancement, such as insufficient concentrated policies targeting the sector, prevalent usage of gas boilers, sluggish growth of infrastructure aligned with renewable energy sources, and fluctuating or inadequate motivational measures.
To speed up the implementation of renewable heating systems, she suggests specific policy measures aimed at advancing three crucial technologies: electric heat pumps, carbon-free district heating, and
solar thermal systems
– both aerial and extensive.
Is the European Union continuing to move away from Russian natural gas?
The European Union’s energy strategy revolves around three main components: conserving energy, generating clean power, and broadening supply sources. A key aspect of this plan involves decreasing reliance on Russian resources.
To achieve this, the proportion of Russian pipeline gas shares in
EU imports
plummeted drastically — from over 40 percent in 2021 to approximately 8 percent in 2023 — after the invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
In the combination of pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG), Russia represented under 15 percent of all EU gas imports as reported by the European Commission. Nonetheless, this percentage increased to 18.9 percent in 2024.