On April 26, a report on the development of renewable energies consumption in Europe was published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

The increase of the renewable energy share in the total energy consumption is a fundamental part of the so called Europe 20-20-20 strategy. The target for the EU27 to be reached by 2020 is a share of 20% renewable energy use in gross final energy consumption. National targets are then established taking into account the Member States' different starting points, renewable energy potential and economic performance.

The report highlights how in 2010-2011 the share of renewable energies steadily grew all over Europe, accounting now for 13% of the global consumption. The highest percentages were reached in Sweden (46.8% of renewable energy sources in total consumption), Latvia (33.1%), Finland (31.8%) and Austria (30.9%). Estonia (25.9%) has even exceeded its national target nine years in advance.

Italy is still some way off its national target of 17%, but increased its share of renewables from 4.9% in 2004 to 11.5% in 2011.

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