Energy Profile - Europe (EU)

European Union (EU)

(Pop.: 857 mi; GDP: US$ 19.42 tri; PPP GDP: US$ 28.16 tri; debt: 82% of GDP; tax burden: 40%; prim. energy use: 1,202 Mtoe; electricity use: 2,419 TWh; inst. capacity: 1,200 GW; self-sufficiency: 42.5%)

    

(Greece has the highest debt, ~150% of GDP, while Estonia has the lowest, ~23%)

  

(England)

(Pop.: 57 mi; GDP: US$ 3.64 tri; PPP GDP: US$ 4.49 tri; debt: 102% of GDP; tax burden: 34%; prim. energy use: 164.4 Mtoe; elec. use: 273 TWh; inst. capacity: 105 GW; self-sufficiency: ~50%)

  

Becoming the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050 is the objective behind the European Green Deal, the very ambitious package of measures that should enable Europe to benefit from sustainable green transition [EC, 2023].

  

Energy mix - gas dependency

  

In 2021, 76% of Europe’s energy were made by burning fossil fuels: gas (34%), oil (31%), and coal (11%).  The Old Continent is highly dependent on natural gas (NG) for generating electricity, transport, and heating (in 2021, 34% of Europe’s energy came from burning gas).  Belarus is the most gas-dependent country in Europe with 62% of its energy coming from gas, followed by Russia (54%), Italy (42%), U.K. (40%), and Hungary (39%) (Figure 1) [AJ, 2023].

 

Share on renewables

  

Europe has an abundance of renewable energy sources, and its countries in recent years have become leaders in driving the deployment of renewable technologies [IRENA, 2023].  Figure 2 shows the share of energy from renewables.  Europe has adopted targets to achieve a 32% share of renewable energy in energy consumption by 2030.

  

Wind & solar vs gas

 

Wind & solar generated a record 22.3% of EU electricity in 2022, for the first time overtaking nuclear (21.9%) and gas (19.9%), according to the analysis and shown in the chart below (Figure 3).  It comes after wind & solar overtook hydro power in 2015 and coal in 2019 [CB, 2023].

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Europe reliance on overseas materials

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Europe wants to reduce its reliance on China, but a full decoupling would be neither desirable nor achievable.  Figure 4 shows critical raw materials supply risk assessment for the EU's green transition.