Final energy consumption by sector and fuel

Assessment versions

Published (reviewed and quality assured)

• No published assessments

Rationale

Justification for indicator selection

Scientific references

• No rationale references available

Indicator definition

Final energy consumption covers energy supplied to the final consumer for all energy uses. It is calculated as the sum of final energy consumption of all sectors. These are disaggregated to cover industry, transport, households, services and agriculture.

The indicator can be presented in relative or absolute terms. The relative contribution of a specific sector is measured by the ratio between the final energy consumption of that sector and total final energy consumption calculated for a calendar year. It is a useful indicator which highlights a country's sectoral needs in terms of final energy demand.

Units

Final energy consumption is measured in thousand tonnes of oil equivalent (ktoe).

Policy context and targets

Context description

Environmental context

The trend in final energy consumption by fuel type and by sector provides a broad indication of progress in reducing final energy consumption and associated environmental impacts by the different end-use sectors (transport, industry, services and households). The type and magnitude of energy-related pressures on the environment (e.g. GHG emissions, air pollution, etc) depends both on the sources of energy as well as on the total amount of energy consumed. One way of reducing energy-related pressures on the environment is to use less energy. This may result from reducing the demand for energy services (e.g. heat demand, passenger or freight transport) or by using energy in a more efficient way (thereby using less energy per unit of activity, see ENER 17, ENER 19 and ENER 21) or a combination of these.

Policy context

• Council adopted on 6 April 2009 the climate-energy legislative package containing measures to fight climate change and promote renewable energy. This package is designed to achieve the EU's overall environmental target of a 20% reduction in greenhouse gases and a 20% share of renewable energy in the EU's total energy consumption by 2020.The climate action and renewable energy (CARE) package includes the following main policy documents.
• Directive 2009/29/ec of the European parliament and of the Council amending directive 2003/87/ec so as to improve and extend the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme of the community
• Directive 2009/31/ec of the European parliament and of the Council on the geological storage of carbon dioxide
• Directive 2009/28/ec of the European parliament and of the Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources
• Community guidelines on state aid for environmental protection (2008/c 82/01)
• Directive 2008/101/ec of the European parliament and of the Council amending directive 2003/87/ec so as to include aviation activities in the scheme for greenhouse gas Emission allowance trading within the community
• Regulation (ec) no 443/2009 of the European parliament and of the Council setting emission performance standards for new passenger cars as part of the community’s integrated approach to reduce CO₂ emissions from light-duty vehicles
• Second Strategic Energy Review; COM(2008) 781 final
  Strategic review on short, medium and long term targets on EU energy security.
• Sustainable production and consumption action planCOM(2008) 397 final
  The strategy is meant to further sustainable consumption and production and promote its sustainable industrial policy.
• Action Plan for Energy Efficiency: Realising the PotentialCOM(2006)545 final

  This Action Plan outlines a framework of policies and measures with a view to intensify the process of realising the 20% estimated savings potential in EU annual primary energy consumption by 2020.

References

• COM (2008) 781 final - Second Strategic Energy Review
• EU (2009) Climate action and renewable energy package (CARE Package)
• http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/climate_action.htm
• EEA (2013) A closer look at urban transport – TERM 2013: transport indicators tracking progress towards environmental targets in Europehttp://www.eea.europa.eu//publications/term-2013
• EEA (2014) Monitoring CO2 emissions from passenger cars and vans in 2013  http://www.eea.europa.eu//publications/monitoring‑co2‑emissions-from-passenger

Targets

The Directive 2012/27/eu on energy efficiency establishes a common framework of measures for the promotion of energy efficiency within the European Union in order to achieve the headline target of 20% reduction in primary energy consumption. Member States are requested to set indicative targets. It is up to the Member states whether they base their targets on primary energy consumption, final energy consumption, primary or final energy savings or energy intensity.

Related policy documents

• A closer look at urban transport – TERM 2013: transport indicators tracking progress towards environmental targets in Europe
  This TERM 2013 report includes an assessment of progress towards the transport-related environmental targets set out in the 2011 White Paper and other transport and environment regulations. It also includes a focus on the environmental impacts of urban transport.
• Climate action and renewable energy package (CARE Package)
  Combating climate change is a top priority for the EU. Europe is working hard to cut its greenhouse gas emissions substantially while encouraging other nations and regions to do likewise.
• COM(2008) 781
  COM(2008) 781 final - Second Strategic Energy Review
• Monitoring CO2 emissions from passenger cars and vans in 2013
  he EEA has collected EU Member States' data on passenger car registrations, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 443/2009. All Member States reported information on Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and the mass of cars, together with other vehicle characteristics. This data was used to evaluate the performance in 2013 of the new vehicle fleet, and its progress toward meeting the CO2 emissions target of 130 grams of CO2 per kilometre (gCO2/km) by 2015. The current dataset is provisional, and will now be sent for verification to all car manufacturers responsible for cars registered in the EU in 2013.

Methodology

Methodology for indicator calculation

Methodology for gap filling

No gap filling was applied.

Methodology references

No methodology references available.

Data specifications

EEA data references

• No datasets have been specified here.

External data references

• Energy statistics - supply, transformation and consumption
• Energy statistics - gas (Eurostat)
• Supply, transformation and consumption of oil - annual data
• Energy statistics - supply, transformation and consumption (nrg_10)

Data sources in latest figures

Uncertainties

Methodology uncertainty

Reliability, accuracy, robustness, uncertainty (at data level):

Indicator uncertainty (historical data):
Any cross-country comparison of the distribution of final energy consumption between sectors will have to be accompanied by a relevant measure of the importance of the sector in the economy, as the sectoral shares also depends on the country's economic circumstances. Because the focus is on the reduction of final energy consumption and not on the sectoral redistribution of such consumption, the trends in the absolute values (in thousand tonnes of oil equivalent) should be preferred as a more meaningful indicator of progress. However, even if the same sectors in two countries are equally important to the economy, the primary energy consumption needed before it reaches the final user might draw from energy sources that pollute the environment in different ways. Thus, from an environmental point of view, the final energy consumption of a sector should be analysed in that broader context.
The sectoral breakdown of final energy consumption includes industry, transport, households, services, agriculture, fisheries and other sectors. The inclusion of agriculture and fisheries together with the services sector is however questionable given their divergent trends. Separate assessments are therefore made where appropriate. It is worth noting that according to Eurostat final energy consumption in agriculture is not very reliable and it mainly means consumption from engines used for agricultural transportation. A new definition is now used in the energy questionnaires to be more in line with the IPCC guidelines

Data sets uncertainty

Strengths and weaknesses (at data level)
Officially reported data, updated annually. No obvious weaknesses.

Data have been traditionally compiled by Eurostat through the annual Joint Questionnaires, shared by Eurostat and the International Energy Agency, following a well established and harmonised methodology. Methodological information on the annual Joint Questionnaires and data compilation can be found in Eurostat's web page for metadata on energy statistics. http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/statistics/metadata. See also information related to the Energy Statistics Regulation available from http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/energy/introduction

Rationale uncertainty

No uncertainty has been specified