Renewable electricity is helping the European Union meet its stated targets, but campaigners from Transport & Environment (T&E) warn against relying on biofuels alone. When it comes to "green" transport in Europe, one country is clearly well ahead of the rest.
According to the latest Eurostat figures, which also point to a gradual improvement across the European Union as a whole, Sweden had the highest share of renewable energy in transport in 2023 – 33.7%. Sweden is the only country to have already met the European target of using renewable energy for at least 29% of total transport energy by 2030.
The Scandinavians have taken the lead by rolling out electric vehicles at speed. But there is a catch, according to the T&E campaigners, because most of this excellent result comes from biofuel, a rather contentious source of energy.
What does a comparison of European countries show about renewable energy in transport, and what part do biofuels play?
How "clean" is transport in the European Union?
In the first week of February, Eurostat reported that in 2023 the share of renewable energy across the European Union's transport sector reached 10.8%, 1.2% more than the year before.
Meeting the 2030 target will require considerable progress. Between 2024 and 2030 the share must rise by an average of 2.6 percent a year.
The published figures for 2023 are too high, the Transport & Environment campaign group stresses. The share of renewable energy used in transport could in fact be lower – close to 8 percent – if the so-called "multiplier mechanisms" that encourage the use of certain fuel types are left out of account. As Europe's energy sector undergoes what is known as a deep transformation, the transport sector is benefiting from the growing supply of renewable electricity.
This "green" source grew by 50% in 2023, thanks to the rising share of renewables in the EU electricity grid (45% in 2023) and a larger share of electric vehicles.
"That is good news," T&E data analyst Simon Susan tells Euronews Green, "the latest data for 2024 and 2025 will reach even higher figures."
T&E warns that most of the "renewable energy" given in the Eurostat figures refers to biofuels – liquids or gases such as biodiesel and bioethanol produced from biomass.
Although the volume of crop-based biofuels held steady in 2023 (the European Union has set limits on this most environmentally damaging type of biofuel), new and more advanced kinds of biofuel are emerging. This category includes used cooking oil, animal fats and palm residues. These materials are largely imported from Asia. According to T&E's figures they currently account for 40% of all biofuel used in European Union transport and, given the so-called double counting, make up more than half of the reported renewable energy share.
Biofuel. What are the problems?
More and more people in Sweden are getting about in electric vehicles. That has helped the country rise to the top of the green transport rankings. Yet, as T&E notes, this has largely been achieved using biofuel derived specifically from waste materials. Sweden is making increasing use of biofuel obtained from animal fats.
Organic waste is divided into three categories, determined on the basis of the risk of transmitting disease. Category one and two waste materials have more restricted uses and are used to produce fuel, while category three waste, which is considered safer, can be used more widely, including in the manufacture of pet food and chemical products.
The problem is that, by consuming animal fats to produce biofuel, Sweden's transport system could push other industries towards less sustainable materials, such as palm oil.
Which countries are succeeding with renewable energy sources?
Second in the Eurostat rankings is Finland, where renewable sources make up 20.7% of the transport energy mix, followed by the Netherlands (13.4%) and Austria (13.2%).
The list also shows which countries will increase the share of renewable energy in transport the most. Here too Sweden is the leader – its share rose by 4.9 percent in 2023. Next come Austria and Portugal, where the increase in both countries is 2.5 percentage points greater than in 2022. The largest rise in renewables in these countries also comes from more advanced biofuels and biofuel made from waste materials, T&E notes.
Renewable electricity is the greenest transport solution
Additional credit is due to Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands, which in 2023 accounted for more than half of the renewable electricity used in European Union road transport. Belgium, Luxembourg and Portugal saw some of the largest relative increases in renewable electricity in road transport that same year.
Activists in the T&E sustainable transport movement want that growth to be faster still. "Most of the 29% renewable energy target should be met thanks to renewable electricity," stresses T&E data analyst Simon Susan. "It should grow rapidly, precisely because of the greater use of renewables such as wind and solar power in the European energy system, and because of the faster uptake of electric cars, vans and lorries driven by the European Union's road transport CO₂ standards."