The EWEA analysis of all 27 Member States' national forecast documents shows that EU member states are on course to achieve over 20% renewable energy by 2020, with 21 Member States meeting or exceeding their national targets. [See downloadable pdf on the right for full details, ed.]
Only 6 forecast they will not manage to reach their renewable energy target through domestic action alone, although two of these say that with fresh national initiatives they can meet or exceed their targets. None of the 6 expects to be more than 1%-point below their renewable energy target.
Spain on top, Italy bottom
Top achievers are Spain, which believes it will reach 22.7% renewable energy by 2020 - almost 3%-points above its 20% target. Next comes Germany which expects to be 0.7%-points above its 18% renewable energy target. In addition Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden could exceed their targets. The 6 who do not expect to meet their renewable energy target are Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg and Malta, together with Bulgaria and Denmark - the two countries which state that with fresh national initiatives they could meet or exceed their targets.
Bottom of the league is Italy which, in order to meet its target, foresees importing renewable energy from neighbouring non-EU countries such as Albania, Croatia, Serbia and Tunisia.
A sea-change for renewable energy
"Europe has witnessed a sea-change since the 2009 Renewable Energy Directive was agreed as in 2008 many countries were stating that their target would be difficult to meet – now the majority are forecasting that they will meet or exceed their national target,” says Justin Wilkes, Policy Director of EWEA.
"The forecast documents give a clear signal to the European Commission of where they could facilitate implementation of the Renewable Energy Directive.”
