In the majority of Member States, wood and wood waste was the main source of renewable energy. It accounted for more than three quarters of gross inland energy consumption from renewables in 2010 in Estonia (96%), Lithuania (88%), Finland (85%), Poland (81%), Latvia (78%) and Hungary (77%), and less than a quarter in Cyprus (13%) and Italy (24%).
This information is issued by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union in connection with the 2012 International Year of Sustainable Energy for all, which offers an opportunity to raise public awareness of sustainable access to energy, energy efficiency and renewable energy.
In the EU27, fuelwood accounted for 21% of roundwood production in 2011 In 2011, 429 million cubic meters (m3) of roundwood were produced in the EU27, of which around one fifth was fuelwood2 which contributes to the generation of energy. Wood resources in the EU27 are used in a sustainable way as the volume of increments exceeds the volume of wood production by around half, which indicates that a possible further increase of the demand for fuelwood would be sustainable.
In 2011, roundwood production was highest in Sweden (72 mn m3), Germany (56 mn m3), France (54 mn m3) and Finland (51 mn m3). These four Member States together accounted for more than half of total roundwood production in the EU27.
Roundwood can be divided into two different categories: industrial roundwood and fuelwood. In almost all Member States, industrial roundwood dominated production, with the highest shares found in Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Slovakia (all 93% of roundwood production). In 2011, only three Member States produced more fuelwood than industrial roundwood: Italy (fuelwood represented 74% of roundwood production), Greece (72%) and Hungary (52%).
