Malta still has one of the lowest percentages of energy usage from renewable sources in the European Union, according to statistics published by Eurostat yesterday.

In 2014, the share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy reached 16 per cent in the European Union (EU), though Malta registered a lacklustre 4.7 per cent, the second lowest just behind Luxembourg at 4.5 per cent.

With more than half of energy from renewable sources in its gross final consumption of energy in 2014, Sweden had by far the highest share, ahead of Latvia and Finland (both 38.7 per cent), Austria at 33.1 per cent and Denmark at 29.2 per cent.

The share of renewables in gross final consumption of energy is one of the headline indicators of the Europe 2020 strategy. The target to be reached by 2020 for the EU is a share of 20 per cent energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy.Malta’s target for 2020 is 10 per cent.

Renewables will continue to play a key role in helping the EU meet its energy needs beyond 2020. For this reason, member states have already agreed on a new EU renewable energy target of at least 27 per cent by 2030.

Though still lagging the EU average, Malta has registered marked progress since 2004, when only 0.1 per cent of the island’s energy came from renewable sources. Each EU member state has its own Europe 2020 target. The national targets take into account the member states’ different starting points, renewable energy potential and economic performance.

Malta’s target for 2020 is 10 per cent.