In 2022, electricity (33.3%) and natural gas (31.2%) accounted for almost two-thirds (64.5%) of final energy consumption in the EU industrial sector, Eurostat reports.
The sector still relies heavily on fossil fuels, which directly accounted for more than half (50.5%) of industrial final energy consumption in 2022. This is slightly less than in 2021 (50.9 %).
Electricity and natural gas are followed by petroleum and petroleum products (excluding biofuels; 10.8 %), renewable energy and biofuels (10.6 %), heat (5.6 %), solid fossil fuels (6.3 %) and non-renewable waste (2.1 %).
In 2022, the largest share of final energy consumption was accounted for by the EU chemical and petrochemical industry (1,892 petajoules (PJ) or 20.0%), non-metallic minerals (1,366 PJ or 14.5%), paper, pulp and printing (1,278 PJ or 13.5%), food, beverages and tobacco (1,156 PJ or 12.2%) and iron and steel (963 PJ or 10.2%).
The lowest share of total final energy consumption was recorded in the textile and leather sector at 1.4 per cent (131 PJ), followed by mining and quarrying (1.6 per cent; 148 PJ) and transport equipment (3.2 per cent; 302 PJ).