Green electricity: Is Europe's renewable energy boom slowing down?

How "green" is electricity in the European Union? Recent data from Eurostat, the EU's statistics agency, shows that 54.1% of the electricity generated in the bloc came from renewable energy sources in the second quarter of this year. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT This means that renewables (including biofuels) continue to outperform other energy sources, including combustible fuels and fossil energy. However, growth has barely moved in a year, a sign that it may be slowing. Since the start of 2025, this share has fluctuated between 41% and just over 56%. The share for the second quarter of 2026 marks a slight decrease compared to the same period last year (54.3%), but an increase was recorded since January 2026, when the share stood at 41%. Overall, renewable electricity generation grew by 2.8% year-on-year, while the total electricity generation increased by 3.2%. In the same period, gas-fired generation increased by 3.9%. This data is in contrast with the bloc's vow to shift to cleaner, home-grown energy following the US-Israeli attacks on Iran and the energy insecurity that ensued. Such an effort by Brussels to wean itself from foreign energy dependence was launched following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with significant success. What's the large clean electricity source? From early 2023, renewable energy sources began visibly contributing more to electricity generation because of rapid wind and solar capacity expansion and a sharp pivot away from Russian gas. This growth in renewables saved the EU tens of billions in potential gas and coal purchases. Now, the growth in renewables appears less significant, in part because many EU countries are already operating on higher clean-energy baselines. Solar remains the single biggest contributor to electricity generation in the EU, at 41.6%, up from 37% this time last year, according to Eurostat. It was even Europe’s single largest source of electricity in June. Wind follows at 27.7% and hydro-power at 22.6%. The remaining renewable electricity came from combustible renewable fuels (7.7%) and geothermal and other energy sources (0.4%). Significant disparities across EU in clean electricity use The latest Eurostat data highlights the continued divide within the bloc when it comes to the generation of electricity. Latvia tops the list, generating 97.7% of its electricity from renewables. The Baltic state is mainly powered by hydro and solar energy thanks to the Daugava River cascade that provides the backbone of Latvia's domestic baseload renewable electricity, and the rapid deployment of household solar panels. It is closely followed by Denmark. Some 94% of its electricity is generated by renewables, largely driven by wind energy, and it was an early adopter. Croatia rounds off the top three — 92.2% of its electricity is green, driven by hydropower. Austria, Estonia, Portugal and Lithuania also top the ranking when it comes to the share of electricity that is generated by renewable sources. On the other side of the spectrum is Slovakia, where just 19.8% of electricity is renewably sourced. The country generates most of its electricity from nuclear power (around 70%). Czechia is also at the tail end of the ranking, with 20.9% of its electricity being clean. It too relies heavily on nuclear energy and fossil fuels. How much do renewables make up of clean energy consumption? However, electricity is only part of the picture, and arguably, progress is strongest here. Looking at all the energy Europeans use, including heating and transport, renewables made up just 26.2% last year, up from 25.2% in 2024. On this front, the EU has an ambitious target to hit, as Brussels wants renewables to reach 42.5% of all energy use by 2030, with an aim to increase this to 45%. "Therefore, EU countries need to intensify their efforts to collectively comply with the EU target for 2030, which requires increasing the share of renewable energy sources in the EU's gross final energy consumption by more than 16 pp in just 5 years," Eurostat said. The ultimate goal is climate neutrality by 2050. Sweden (65.4%), Finland (53%) and Denmark (48.2%) top the list of countries with the highest share of green energy in total energy consumption, but other countries are considerably behind, including Belgium (14.9%), Slovakia (16.3%), and Ireland (17.2%). While the current share of renewable energy has almost tripled since 2004 (9.6%), experts are concerned that the bloc is currently falling short of the pace needed to get there, slowed down by infrastructure bottlenecks and scepticism in some member states.