At a time when the Trump administration believes it can lecture Europe about democracy and media censorship, the US can still learn a lot from Europe about the transition to sustainable energy.

• If you look at the numbers per capita, the Netherlands in particular stands out as having the largest capacity for generating electricity from solar energy per capita worldwide, after Australia.
• Per capita, the top ten largest wind energy generators worldwide were entirely European countries; the Scandinavian countries occupied the top four, the Netherlands took sixth place.
• While the contribution of solar and wind energy to electricity production in the EU was only 0.8% in 2000, in 2024 this contribution had increased to 28.5%. Thanks to the rapid growth of the contribution of solar and wind energy, the contribution of renewable energy to electricity production in the EU increased from 15.5% in 2000 to 47% in 2024. The figures for 2024 show that the largest contribution now comes from wind energy, 17.4%. This is followed by hydropower and solar energy with 13.2% and 11.1% respectively.
• Almost 23% of electricity in the EU was generated from nuclear energy. In 2024, more than 70% of the electricity in the EU was generated without emitting greenhouse gases.

While the Trump administration looks away from its responsibility for climate change, Europe takes its responsibility seriously. Don’t’ forget: The USA is responsible for 40% of climate breakdown!

Source: EMBER, 2025. European electricity review 2025, 47 blz.