Read about the updated EU taxonomy for sustainable activities in the next Delano magazine issue Copyright (c) 2017 FotoIdee/Shutterstock.

Read about the updated EU taxonomy for sustainable activities in the next Delano magazine issue Copyright (c) 2017 FotoIdee/Shutterstock.

In 2020 Luxembourg’s share of energy from renewable sources was 12.6% -- up from 8.7% the previous year, says Eurostat. This places Luxembourg fourth from bottom against other European countries. With only Ireland (6%), Belgium and the Netherlands performing worse (both on 8%). Iceland sits top of the list (80.5%) followed by Sweden (66.4%).

There has been a gradual increase in the EU 12% in 2004 to 22% in 2019 of energy deriving from renewable sources. The EU average stands at 23%.

This level of growth is similar to that observed for the overall share of renewables, which increased from 10% in 2004 to 22% in 2020.

(+61.33%) from December 2020 to December 2021, while consumer prices for liquid fuels increased by 64.27% over the same period.

According to figures released early this month by the EU's statistics bureau Eurostat, while the Netherlands sits level with the grand duchy in third place.

Updated EU taxonomy

The EU commission has also recently published an update to its classification system for what it deems ’environmentally sustainable economic activities’, nuclear energy and certain gas have been added, “in an attempt to meet the EU’s climate and energy targets for 2030”, says the EU executive body.

Something which has generated discussion and controversy.

Environmental NGO Greenpeace in a press release stated that the EU’s decision did not align with its sustainability goals and that it was as the pressure group’s finance campaign supervisor Ariadna Rodrigo put it.

The EU and its member states have committed to phasing out fossil fuel subsidies by 2025. While the EU’s climate objectives, which form the European Green Deal, aim to make the EU climate-neutral by 2050 and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by the end of the current decade.

Read about the updated EU taxonomy for sustainable activities in the upcoming March edition of Delano magazine published on 25 February. Meris Sehovic the co-president of Luxembourg’s Green Party and Anne Calteux the European union’s commission representative in Luxembourg, debate its merits and flaws.