While green initiatives are a key part of the government’s strategy, Luxembourg trails behind the EU as a whole in terms of organic farming and renewable energy.
Renewable energy
Data from Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency, show that Luxembourg has the third-lowest rate of renewable electricity relative to overall supply.
Across the union as a whole, an average 32% of electricity consumed comes from renewable sources - but only 9% in Luxembourg. This makes us third-worst in the EU coupled with Cyprus (also 9%), behind just Malta and Hungary (both 8%).
Our neighbouring countries fare better, though only Germany (38%) is above the EU average, as France and Belgium’s share of renewable electricity comes in at 21 and 19% respectively.
On the other end of the scale we find Austria, where 73% of electricity consumed stems from renewable sources, followed by Sweden (66%) and Denmark (62%).
Organic farming
Luxembourg is also behind EU average when it comes to the portion of total farming area devoted to organic farming. The EU average here is 7.5%, with Luxembourg coming in at 4.4% - putting us 9th from the bottom of the list. The countries where organic farming make out the smallest overall portion of agricultural land are Malta (0.4%), Romania (2.4%), and Bulgaria, Ireland, and the UK (all 2.6%)
Austria again tops the list at 24.1%, followed by Estonia (20.6%) and Sweden (20.3%). All of our neighbouring countries fall below the EU average here, with Germany and France just below the EU average at 7.3 and 7% respectively, and Belgium at 6.5%.