Renewable energy
Renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and hydroelectric power, ocean and geothermal energy, biomass and biofuels offer cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels. They reduce pollution, broaden our energy options and decrease our dependence on volatile fossil fuel prices. In 2023, lawmakers increased the EU target for the share of renewable sources of energy in gross energy consumption from 32% to at least 42.5% by 2030, while aiming for 45%. In 2023, renewable energy accounted for 24.5% of the EU’s final energy consumption.
Legal basis and objectives
Article 194 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
Achievements
A. The European Green Deal
On 26 February 2025, in line with the Clean Industrial Deal, the EU committed to accelerate the roll-out of renewable energy, decarbonise industry and ensure that clean tech has sufficient manufacturing capacity. The new industrial deal builds upon the European Green Deal, which addressed energy, climate and environmental challenges by committing to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 in accordance with the Paris Agreement.
B. Renewable Energy Directive
The Renewable Energy Directive establishes the EU’s renewable energy sources target for 2030. The target is to increase the share of renewables in the EU’s overall energy consumption to at least 42.5% by 2030, while striving to achieve 45%. The directive aligns the EU’s renewable energy target with its new climate ambition, accelerates the energy transition in line with the decision to phase out dependence on Russian fossil fuels and speeds up procedures to grant permits for new renewable energy projects. It sets the maximum time to approve new installations at 12 months in areas prioritised for renewables and at 24 months elsewhere.
The directive establishes the following sectoral sub-targets for EU countries:
- In the industry sector, a binding target of 42% for renewable hydrogen in total hydrogen consumption by 2030 and 60% by 2035, with an indicative target of an annual average increase of 1.6 percentage points in the use of renewable energy.
- In the building sector, an indicative target of 49% for the share of renewable energy by 2030, with heating and cooling targets to increase by 0.8 percentage points per year until 2025 and by 1.1 percentage points from 2026 to 2030, starting from the share in 2020.
- In the transport sector, either a 29% target for the share of renewable energy by 2030, or a 14.5% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, through greater use of advanced biofuels and renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBO), such as hydrogen (see section D.2).
- In district heating and cooling, an indicative target of an annual average increase of 2.2 percentage points in the share of energy coming from renewable sources and waste heat and cold in district heating/cooling.
- In research and innovation, an indicative target of 5% of newly installed renewable energy capacity from innovative technologies by 2030.
The directive set and confirmed mandatory national targets consistent with the EU’s overall goal. It also required EU countries to develop indicative trajectories for achieving their targets, submit national renewable energy action plans and publish national renewable energy progress reports every two years. The directive outlined various mechanisms that EU countries could apply to promote investment in renewable energy sources, including support schemes, guarantees of origin, joint projects, cooperation with non-EU countries, as well as sustainability criteria for biofuels.
In accordance with the Regulation on the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action, EU countries propose national energy targets and establish 10-year national energy and climate plans (NECPs) covering the period from 2021 to 2030. The NECPs are monitored every two years with progress reports and assessed by the Commission, which is empowered to take measures at EU level to ensure their consistency with the overall EU targets.
1. Renewable energy financing mechanism
The Regulation on the Union renewable energy financing mechanism establishes an EU financing mechanism to assist countries in achieving their individual and collective renewable energy targets. The mechanism links countries that contribute to the financing of projects (contributing countries) with countries that agree to have new projects built on their territories (host countries). The Commission outlines its implementation framework and funding methods, establishing that EU countries, funds, or private sector contributions may finance actions under the mechanism. The energy generated through this mechanism counts towards the renewable energy targets of all participating countries.
2. Trans-European Networks for Energy
The Trans-European Networks for Energy is a policy that focuses on connecting the energy infrastructure of EU countries, aligning it with the objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. The TEN-E Regulation established EU rules for cross-border energy infrastructure. It identifies 11 priority corridors and three thematic priority areas, defines the new Projects of Common Interest (PCIs) among EU countries, introduces Projects of Mutual Interest (PMIs) between EU and non-EU countries, highlights the role of offshore wind projects and excludes future natural gas projects from EU funding. Additionally, it promotes the integration of renewables and new clean energy technologies into the energy system, connects regions currently isolated from European energy markets, strengthens existing cross-border interconnections, fosters cooperation with partner countries and proposes ways to simplify and accelerate permitting and authorisation procedures.
C. Future steps
Revision of the Energy Taxation Directive
In July 2021, as part of the ‘Fit for 55’ package, the Commission published a proposal for restructuring the Union framework for the taxation of energy products and electricity as part of the revision of the Energy Taxation Directive. The proposal aimed to align the taxation of energy products with EU energy and climate policies, promote clean technologies and eliminate outdated exemptions and reduced rates that incentivised the use of fossil fuels.
In February 2025, as part of the Clean Industrial Deal, the Affordable Energy Action Plan called on the Council to complete the revision of the Energy Taxation Directive, highlighting options such as lowering national taxes on electricity, applying reduced VAT rates and eliminating levies that finance policies unrelated to energy.
D. Resource-specific issues
1. Solar
As a part of the ‘REPowerEU’ plan, the aim of the EU solar energy strategy is to double solar photovoltaic capacity to 320 GW by 2025 and install 600 GW by 2030. The plan included a phased-in legal obligation to install solar panels on new public, commercial and residential buildings, as well as a strategy to double the rate of deployment of heat pumps in district and communal heating systems. Under the plan, EU countries are required to identify and adopt plans for dedicated ‘go-to’ areas for renewables, with shortened and simplified permitting processes. The Renewable Energy Directive defines fast permit-granting procedures for the installation of solar energy equipment.
2. Biomass, biofuels and hydrogen
The Renewable Energy Directive includes a target of 1% by 2025 and 5.5% by 2030 for advanced biofuels, biogas and RFNBO (i.e. hydrogen), of which at least 1 percentage point from RFNBO, for the transport sector.
In July 2020, the energy system integration strategy and the hydrogen use strategy introduced the objective of achieving at least 6 GW of renewable hydrogen electrolysers and producing up to 1 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen in the EU by 2024. The strategies also aimed for 40 GW and 10 million tonnes by 2030.
In 2022, the REPowerEU plan established the target of producing and importing 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen by 2030.
In 2023, the Renewable Energy Directive set the indicative target of 42% of renewable hydrogen in total hydrogen consumption by 2030 and 60% by 2035 for industry.
3. Offshore wind
On 19 November 2020, the Commission published an EU strategy on offshore renewable energy. The strategy aims to increase the EU’s production of electricity from offshore renewable energy sources from 12 GW in 2020 to over 60 GW by 2030 and 300 GW by 2050.
The TEN-E Regulation, which entered into force in June 2022, introduced non-binding regional agreements for the deployment of offshore renewables. In January 2023, EU countries agreed on higher non-binding goals for offshore renewable energy generation, with targets of 111 GW and 317 GW by 2030 and 2050 respectively.
4. Ocean energy
In January 2014, the Commission published its blue energy action planto support the development of ocean energy. This includes energy generated by waves, tidal power, thermal energy conversion and salinity gradient power. The offshore renewable energy strategy also highlighted the need for significant scaling up of the marine renewables industry. It proposed a fivefold increase by 2030 and a 25-fold increase by 2050.
5. Geothermal energy
As a renewable energy source with great potential to achieve EU energy targets, the interest in geothermal energy has risen in recent years. In 2023, geothermal energy was added to the list of renewable energy sources. In 2024, in its resolution on the potential of geothermal energy as a renewable heating/cooling source, Parliament called on the Commission to present an EU geothermal strategy, in order to meet the objective of, at least, tripling the share of energy demand covered by solar heat and geothermal energy by 2030, as announced in the EU solar energy strategy.
Role of the European Parliament
Parliament has consistently advocated the use of renewables and highlighted the importance of setting mandatory targets for 2020 and, more recently, for 2030.
In January 2018, in view of the 2018 revision of the Renewable Energy Directive, Parliament supported a binding target for the EU of at least 35% renewable energy by 2030 and reinforced self-consumption as a right. However, after negotiations with the Council, the EU’s binding target was decreased to at least 32%.
In January 2020, Parliament adopted a resolution on the European Green Deal, calling for a revision of the Renewable Energy Directive and the setting of binding national targets.
In May 2021, Parliament adopted a resolution on a European strategy for energy system integration and a resolution on a European strategy for hydrogen, advocating decarbonisation and the use of renewables in the production of electricity and hydrogen.
In February 2022, Parliament adopted a resolution on a European strategy for offshore renewable energy, noting that a cost-competitive transition to a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 requires an installed capacity of offshore wind of 70-79 GW and called for the EU to go beyond this target.
In September 2022, Parliament supported the Commission’s goal to raise the renewable energy target to 45% by 2030.
In October 2023, Parliament and the Council raised the 2030 renewable energy target to 42.5%, with the aim of achieving 45%, almost doubling the existing share of renewable energy in the EU.
For more information on this topic, please see the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) website or visit the European Parliament home page on renewable energy.
Kristin BECKER / Matteo Ciucci