Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/798939
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 15 MARCH 2017 MIRIAM DALLI MALTA'S share of renewable energy consumption is the low- est amongst the countries of the European Union, figures released by Eurostat, the statis- tical office of the European Un- ion, show. Malta's share started off at 0.1% in 2004, reaching 5% in 2015. Its minimum interim trajectory for 2013 and 2014 was set at 3%. The EU Directive assigns renewable energy targets to different mem- ber states, according to their re- spective potential. Malta's share target is of 10% in gross final en- ergy consumption. In the EU, the share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy reached 16.7%, nearly double that of 2004 (8.5%), the first year for which the data are available. The share of renewables in gross final consumption of ener- gy is one of the headline indica- tors of the Europe 2020 strategy. The target to be reached by 2020 for the EU is a share of 20% en- ergy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of en- ergy. However, renewables will continue to play a key role in helping the EU meet its energy needs beyond 2020. For this rea- son, Member States have already agreed on a new EU renewable energy target of at least 27% by 2030. Since 2004, the share of re- newable sources in gross final consumption of energy grew sig- nificantly in all Member States. Compared with a year ago, it has increased in 22 of the 28 Mem- ber States. With more than half (53.9%) of energy from renewable sources in its gross final consumption of energy, Sweden had by far the highest share in 2015, ahead of Finland (39.3%), Latvia (37.6%), Austria (33.0%) and Denmark (30.8%). At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest proportions of renewables were registered in Luxembourg and Malta (both 5.0%), the Netherlands (5.8%), Belgium (7.9%) and the United Kingdom (8.2%). Each EU Member State has its own Europe 2020 target. The national targets take into ac- count the Member States' dif- ferent starting points, renewable energy potential and economic performance. Among the 28 EU Member States, 11 have already reached the level required to meet their national 2020 targets: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Croatia, Italy, Lithua- nia, Hungary, Romania, Finland and Sweden. Moreover, Austria and Slova- kia are about 1 percentage point from their 2020 targets. At the opposite end of the scale, the Netherlands (8.2 percentage points from reaching its national 2020 objective), France (7.8 pp), Ireland and the United Kingdom (both 6.8 pp) and Luxembourg (6.0 pp) are the furthest away from their targets. News Malta's share of renewable energy lowest in EU, edges closer to 2020 target In the EU, the share of energy from renewable sources reached 16.7%