Definition: renewable energy is measured as the share of energy consumption from renewable sources in gross final energy consumption, as defined in the European Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (Official Journal of the European Union, 5/6/2009). Gross final energy consumption is the energy consumed by all final consumers, including losses on the transport network and the consumption of the energy sector itself. The data come from Eurostat.

Goal: the share of renewable energy must reach 34% by 2030.

The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs adopted by the UN in 2015 include target 7.2: “By 2030, increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.”

The Federal Long-Term Strategic Vision for Sustainable Development contains objective 16: “The low-carbon forms of energy will predominate in the energy mix. Renewable energy sources will be a significant part of it"(Belgian Official Gazette, 08/10/2013).

At European level, the Directive 2018/2001 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (Official Journal of the European Union), sets a goal of 32% share of renewable energy for 2030 for the EU. In 2023, this directive was amended by Directive 2023/2413, which now imposes a binding target of 42.5% renewable sources in the EU's gross final energy consumption in 2030.

In addition, the European Regulation 2018/1999 on the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action requires all EU Member States to prepare a National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) for the period 2021-2030 (Official Journal of the European Union). In response the draft update of the Belgian National Energy and Climate Plan 2021-2030 (PNEC 2023) sets a target of 21.7% renewable energy in the gross final energy consumption by 2030. This percentage, based on the 'with additional measures' projections of the PNEC 2023, is still below the indicative target of 34% calculated for Belgium in accordance with the formula in Annex II of Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 and mentioned in this PNEC 2023 (Concere/CNC, 2023). The latter is used for the evaluation.

International comparison: when comparing Belgium with the European Union in 2022, it appears that the share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption is higher in the EU27 than in Belgium, namely 23.0% compared to 13.8%. The gap is stable over the whole period considered. When Member States are divided into three groups, Belgium is part of the group with the poorest performance in 2022. In that year, Sweden ranked first with 66.0% and Ireland last with 13.1%.

UN indicator: the selected indicator corresponds to indicator 7.2.1 - Renewable energy share in the total final energy consumption.

Sources

• General

  • SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals: United Nations (2015), Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015, document A/RES/70/1.

  • Indicators: United Nations (2017), Work of the Statistical Commission pertaining to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 6 July 2017, document A/RES/71/313.

  • UN Sustainable Development: https://sdgs.un.org/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).

  • UN Sustainable Development Goal indicators website: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).

• Specific

  • Belgian Official Gazette: http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi/welcome.pl; research on http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/doc/rech_f.htm (consulted on 24/09/2020).

  • Concere/CNC (2023), Draft update of the Belgian National Energy and Climate Plan, https://www.nationalenergyclimateplan.be/en (consulted on 23/10/2024).

  • Official Journal of the European Union: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/oj/direct-access.html?locale=nen (consulted on 23/10/2024).

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