The EU is presenting a plan to electrify its economy on Friday (17 July), in an effort to kick Europe’s addiction to fossil fuels and become less reliant on foreign supplies.
Electricity makes up 23 percent of final energy consumption, only slightly higher than it was in 1990. The graph is now slowly ticking upwards because gas- and coal-fired power plants are increasingly rapidly being replaced by wind and solar.
But outside of the energy sector, the rest of the economy — transport, heating and industry — remains as dependent on fossil fuels as ever.
The fact that this doesn’t have to be this way is illustrated by China’s rapid rise as an electro-state, where power as a share of the energy mix now makes up more than 30 percent, up from around five percent in 1990.
China’s share of electricity in final energy consumption has surged while Europe’s has stagnated. Source: IEA, Electricity 2026
