Malta’s 2020 statistics for renewable energy used for heating and cooling accounts for 23.027%, on par with the total average of renewable energy used for the same purposes within the European Union in the same year, that of 23.090%.

Eurostat statistics showed that there was a steady increase of renewables in heating and cooling among all Member States, increasing from 12% in 2004 and 22% in 2019. This growth is similar to the overall share of renewables, which increased from 10% in 2004 to 22% in 2020.

Malta has, however, seen a slight decrease from the level of 2019, the percentage reading 23.602%, a difference of 0.575% from that of 2020.

The growth of renewable energy in heating and cooling increased owing to the developments in the industrial sector, services and households, which included the electrification of heating using heat pumps, the Eurostat article reported.

Sweden stood out among the Member States with two thirds (66%) of the energy used for heating and cooling in 2020 stemming from renewable sources, mostly being biomass energy and heat pumps. Estonia and Finland (both 58%), Latvia (57%), Denmark (51%) and Lithuania (50%) followed suit, showing that more than half of its energy use for heating and cooling comes from renewable sources.

Iceland (EFTA country), however, stands out with a staggering 80% of renewables used for heating and cooling particularly due to geothermal energy.

Sources for renewable energy used for these purposes include solar thermal, geothermal energy, ambient heat captured by heat pumps, solid, liquid and gaseous biofuels and the renewable part of waste, it said.