EU nations are on track to meet a target to get one fifth of their energy from renewable sources by 2020, even though Britain, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are lagging behind, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said on Tuesday.
The EEA, which provides analysis to EU policymakers, said energy from sources such as wind and solar had become much cheaper. As a result, alternatives had displaced coal and gas, cut carbon emissions and improved energy security.
Without green energy, coal use would have been 13 percent higher and 7 percent more natural gas would have been consumed in 2013, at a time when EU gas reserves are dwindling, the EEA said in its latest progress report.
Overall, the European Union should meet its 2020 goal of getting 20 percent of energy from renewables.
Some member states are further ahead than others.
In Austria, Finland, Sweden and Latvia, renewable energy made up more than one third of energy consumption in 2013, while at the other extreme, Britain, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands got less than 5 percent from green sources.
However, the EEA predicts the laggards will catch up. Britain in particular has made strides in offshore wind.
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