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The tower for a new wind turbine is being built in Wismar
Photo: Jens Büttner / picture alliance / dpa
In the use of renewable energy sources, other countries in the European Union are making greater progress than Germany.
The Federal Statistical Office has published figures on the expansion of renewable energy sources.
This shows that in 2019 the share of renewable energy sources in Germany was only 17.4 percent - more than two percentage points below the average of the 27 EU member states.
This puts Germany - the largest European economy - in 16th place out of 27. Compared to ten years earlier, the percentage rose by 6.5 points.
Sweden reaches more than 50 percent
According to the Federal Statistical Office, the pioneers of the energy transition can be found in Northern Europe: In 2019, Sweden already covered 56.4 percent of its gross final energy consumption from renewable energies, the top figure in the EU.
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According to the information, Finland has also reached a high proportion of renewable energies with around 43 percent, Latvia with 41 percent and Denmark with around 37 percent.
According to the Federal Office's figures, renewable energy sources played a subordinate role in Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands, among others: There the value in 2019 was between 7 and 8.8 percent.
The gross final energy consumption on which this information is based includes the energy consumption of end consumers, for example in the areas of industry, transport and households.
Added to this is the power plants' own consumption and the loss of power from the network during energy transmission.
The interim goal for 2030 is a long way off
With an average of 19.7 percent for the share of renewable energies, the European Union was still a long way from its interim target for 2030 in 2019: a value of 40 percent is to be achieved in the coming years.
This target is part of the European Green Deal, with which the EU wants to become climate neutral by 2050.
In order to reach this mark, the annual greenhouse gas emissions of the EU are to be reduced by 55 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.
In 2019, emissions were around a quarter lower than in 1990.
vki / dpa