European countries, led by Germany, receive more of their electricity from wind, solar, geothermal, tidal and wave sources than any other region in the world, a US Natural Resources Defense Council global renewable energy scorecard shows.
Within the G20 countries, Germany had the largest amount of its electricity (10.7pc) produced from renewable sources in 2011, followed by the European Union (EU) as a bloc at 6.7pc, Italy (6.2pc) and Indonesia (5.7pc), Delivering On Renewable Energy Around The World: How Do Key Countries Stack Up? shows.
The scorecard didn’t include the Republic of Ireland, but showed the percentage of overall electricity production from renewables in its neighbouring country, the UK, at 4.2pc.
France, at 2.8pc, came in at sixth place on the list of G20 countries. The United States ranked seventh at 2.7pc, Mexico ranked eighth at 2.6pc, India came in ninth at 2.4pc, and Australia 10th at 2.2pc.
These countries, however, lag behind Spain, Portugal, Iceland, and New Zealand, each of which produced more than 15pc of their electricity from wind, solar, geothermal, tidal and wave sources.
Investments in clean energy
In 2011, new clean energy investments in the G20 countries increased to US$160bn, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, which indicates more investments in renewable sources of electricity.
Since 2004, the largest amount of total new investment has occurred in the EU (US$290.7bn), followed by the United States ($215bn) and China ($197.5bn).
