In 2023, shares of renewables in the gross final energy consumption varied between 19,1 percent in Greenland and 79,5 percent in Iceland. The five largest countries in the Nordic region had values from 44.4 percent and up, meaning that they all met the EU's 2030 renewable energy target of 42.5 percent. All Nordic countries show substantial increases in share of renewables in the past 20 years, with Denmark in the lead having tripled theirs.

The vision of the Nordic Co-operation is to become the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030. This requires ambitious measures, for example to enable sustainable green transition. One of the indicators chosen the Nordic Co-operations “Our Vision 2030” is the share of renewables in the gross final energy consumption - the total energy consumed by end users, such as households, industry and agriculture. It is the energy which reaches the final consumer's door.[1]

Renewable energy sources include hydro power, wind energy, solar, tidal, wave and ocean power, renewable wastes and biofuels, geothermal energy and ambient heat captured by heat pumps.

Renewables and biofuels in gross final energy consumption

In 2004, shares of renewables in the gross final energy consumption [2] varied greatly in the Nordic countries, between 9,5 percent in Greenland and 58,9 percent in Iceland. In 2023, these shares had increased to between 19,1 percent in Greenland and 79,5 percent in Iceland (2022 value, 2023 not yet available for Iceland).

This means that the five largest countries in the Nordic region all met the EU's 2030 renewable energy target of 42.5 percent in 2023. The EU members of the five; Sweden, Finland and Denmark, had the three highest shares of all EU countries, and the shares for Iceland and Norway were even higher. [3]

Source: Nordic Statistics Database, ENER08

All Nordic countries thus reported substantial increases during the period. Iceland and Norway, the countries with the highest shares in 2004, reported increases by around 30 percent in the two-decade period. Sweden and Finland reported increases by roughly 75 percent. The two countries with the lowest shares in 2004, Greenland and Denmark, reported the largest increases by 2023 - Greenland had doubled their share of renewable energy and had Denmark tripled theirs.

When the country values are combined into a Nordic value [4], the difference between the Nordics and the EU is clear. The EU reached a 24.5 percent share of its gross final energy consumption from renewable sources in 2023, 2.5 times higher than in 2004 when it was 9.6 percent. The Nordics started at 36.4 in 2004 and reached a 61.6 percent share in 2023, a value 1.7 times higher.

Source: Nordic Statistics Database, GREE21

Primary production of Renewables and biofuels

In the Nordic region there is a natural occurrence of fossil fuels such as oil and gas, and the large primary production of Oil and petroleum products and Gas in Norway might dominate the Nordic picture, but there are also great opportunities to produce renewable energy such as geothermal energy, hydropower and energy from renewable wastes and biofuels. Without this, an increase in shares of renewables in the gross final energy consumption would not be possible.

All countries except Norway had renewable energy sources accounting for 54 percent or more of the primary production in 2023. Greenland and Iceland exclusively produced energy from renewable sources, Hydropower in Greenland and Geothermal energy and Hydropower in Iceland. Renewable wastes and biofuels were the largest sources of renewable energy in Sweden, Finland, and Denmark, while Hydropower was the largest in Norway.

Source: Nordic Statistics Database, ENER06

The production of Renewables and biofuels has increased over time, in both the Nordic region and in the EU, but significantly more in the EU. In 2023, the production in the Nordics was twice that of 1990 and the production in the EU almost four time as big as in 1990.

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[1] Final energy consumption excludes energy used by the energy sector, including for deliveries, and transformation. It also excludes fuel transformed in the electrical power stations of industrial auto-producers and coke transformed into blast-furnace gas where this is not part of overall industrial consumption but of the transformation sector. This differs from Gross Inland Consumption, where conversion losses are included. 

[2] No data available for Faroe Islands or Åland, but Åland is included in the data for Finland.

[3] https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Renewable_energy_statistics

[4] The Nordic Region value is calculated based on the values for Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

[5] Primary production is the capture or extraction of fuels or energy from natural energy flows, the biosphere and natural reserves of fossil fuels within the national territory in a form suitable for use. Inert matter removed from the extracted fuels and quantities reinjected, flared or vented are not included.