The share of renewable energy in EU transport rises to 10.8 per cent in 2023

According to Eurostat, the share of renewable energy in the EU transport sector increases to 10.8% in 2023, 1.2 percentage points higher than in 2022 (9.6%). However, this figure is still far from the 29% target set for 2030.

To reach the target, EU countries need to increase the use of green energy in transport by an average of 2.6 percentage points per year. However, over the last 10 years, the average increase has been only 0.43 percentage points per year, indicating an insufficient rate of transition to renewable sources.

Sweden remains the leader in the use of clean fuels, having already exceeded the 2030 target with a share of 33.7 per cent. Finland is in second place (20.7 per cent), followed by the Netherlands (13.4 per cent) and Austria (13.2 per cent).

At the same time, Croatia (0.9 per cent), Latvia (1.4 per cent) and Greece (3.9 per cent) have the lowest rates. These countries have made little or no progress in the development of sustainable transport.

The largest increases in the share of renewable sources in transport were observed in Sweden (+4.9 p.p.), Austria and Portugal (+2.5 p.p.). At the same time, Latvia (-1.7 p.p.), Croatia (-1.5 p.p.) and Romania (-0.9 p.p.) showed a decrease in the share of green energy.

In addition to increasing the share of renewable energy to 29%, EU countries could instead reduce the carbon footprint of transport by 14.5% by 2030. This could be achieved by switching to biofuels, biomethane and increasing the use of electric vehicles.

The growth in the share of renewable energy in transport is visible, but not yet sufficient to meet the EU's climate targets. Unless the pace of green fuel deployment accelerates, the transition to clean transport by 2030 will be jeopardised.