Indicator: Share of renewables in gross final energy consumption | Umweltbundesamt

At a glance

• Gross final energy consumption includes all types of final energy consumption by end consumers, primarily electricity, district heating, fuels and fuels for heat generation.
• So far, the development has been in line with the previous target of a 30 % share of renewables in 2030.
• However, as part of the new targets for the EU Renewable Energy Directive, the German target will soon be increased to 40 %. New measures will be required to achieve this target.

Environmental importance

Switching the energy supply to renewable energy sources is one of the most important strategies in the fight against the climate crisis. An important side effect is that Germany can largely supply itself with renewable energy sources. The expansion of renewable energies therefore reduces dependence on raw material imports.

In the public debate, the conversion of electricity generation to renewable energy sources plays a central role. The consumption of fuels for transportation and fuels for heat generation accounts for around 80 % of final energy consumption. Gross final energy consumption according to the EU Renewable Energy Directive includes all energy consumption by end consumers. In addition to final energy consumption, it also includes the power plants' own consumption and line losses.

Assessing the development

The share of renewables in gross final energy consumption has risen significantly since the start of the survey in 2004, albeit at a considerably slower rate than the share of electricity consumption (see indicator "Renewable energies - share of gross electricity consumption"). The reason for this is the significantly slower development of the switch to renewables in the heating and cooling as well as the transport sectors.

With the "National Energy and Climate Plan" (NECP), Germany committed itself in 2020 to increasing the share of renewables in gross final energy consumption to 30 % by 2030. So far, development has been on this earlier target path to 2030, but this path is now politically outdated: Germany's contribution to achieving the European renewable energy and climate targets will soon be increased to around 40 % in 2030. The background to this is that a new target was agreed in the EU's recently revised Renewable Energy Directive: EU-wide, the share of renewables in gross final energy consumption is to increase to 42.5 % by 2030, or even 45 % if possible.

Methodology

The indicator compares the electricity, district heating, fuels and other renewable energy used in Germany on the basis of renewable energy sources with total gross final energy consumption. Gross final energy consumption includes the final energy consumption of end consumers as well as transmission losses and power plants' own consumption. The data used are provided by the Working Group on Renewable Energy Statistics (AGEE-Stat, in German only) and Working Group on Energy Balances (AGEB).

More detailed information (in German only): 'Energieverbrauch nach Energieträgern, Sektoren und Anwendungen'.