Renewable sources accounted for just over one-fifth of Luxembourg’s gross final energy consumption last year, up from 14.7% in 2024, according to provisional figures published by Eurostat on 23 July. The 5.5-percentage-point rise was far larger than the one-point increase across the EU, where renewables reached 26.2% of final energy use.
Sweden led at 65.4%, followed by Finland at 53% and Denmark at 48.2%. “However, there is still progress to be made, as the EU’s 2030 renewable energy target is 42.5%,” Eurostat said. “Achieving this target would require an annual average increase of 3.3 percentage points from 2026 to 2030.”
Luxembourg faces an even steeper climb towards the 37% target in its national energy and climate plan. Eurostat has not published enough detail to show how much of its 2025 increase came from renewable energy used in the country, changes in total consumption or renewable-energy credits obtained abroad.
Electricity share remains low
Renewables supplied 23.3% of Luxembourg’s gross electricity consumption in 2025, less than half the EU average of 49.9%. Only Malta and Czechia recorded lower shares, while Slovakia also remained below 25%.
Austria, Sweden and Denmark each obtained more than three-quarters of their electricity from renewable sources. Geography accounts for part of the difference: Austria and Sweden draw heavily on hydropower, while Denmark has developed a large wind sector. Luxembourg has less land and fewer natural resources available for renewable generation on the same scale.
Domestic electricity production nevertheless increased sharply in 2025. Photovoltaics became Luxembourg’s largest source of locally generated electricity, although renewable power still covered less than one-quarter of consumption and most electricity available in the country continued to come from imports.
Foreign projects count towards target
EU rules allow member states to transfer agreed quantities of renewable energy between their national accounts. Countries with limited room for projects can help finance new renewable capacity elsewhere and count an agreed part of the output towards their own targets.
“The mechanism is essential to European renewable-energy cooperation given Luxembourg’s small territory and limited domestic potential,” the government said in the explanatory memorandum to a law funding projects in other member states.
Luxembourg is contractually committed to buying at least 400GWh of Danish renewable energy for 2025, with an option to increase the amount to 800GWh. The minimum transfer costs €5.52m, but Luxembourg has until October 2026 to decide whether to exercise some or all of the additional option.
No electricity is delivered to Luxembourg under the agreement. The quantity is deducted from Denmark’s renewable-energy total and added to Luxembourg’s when progress towards EU targets is calculated.
“Statistical transfers may contribute to climate goals, but they do nothing to resolve the question of energy-supply security,” the Chamber of Commerce said in its assessment of Luxembourg’s use of renewable projects abroad.
Finland projects add another route
The Danish agreement establishes what Luxembourg is due to acquire for 2025, but Eurostat’s release does not say whether it included any of that amount in the provisional 20.2% result. The precise transfer does not have to be reported to the European Commission until January 2027.
Luxembourg is also investing up to €265m between 2025 and 2028 through an EU mechanism financing renewable projects in other member states. The first projects comprise seven solar developments in Finland, with Luxembourg entitled to count 80% of the renewable energy they generate.
European cooperation is expected to provide almost one-quarter of the renewable energy needed for Luxembourg to reach its 37% goal. The Chamber of Commerce described it as a complement to domestic investment rather than a substitute for increasing production inside the country.
The Eurostat figure measures progress towards Luxembourg’s renewable-energy target, not energy independence or the share produced within its borders. Statistical credits can improve the national result without changing the electricity or fuel physically supplied to households and businesses.
