Since the war started in Ukraine, there have been reductions
in Russian gas supplies and to address this issue, the countries of European
Union had set a goal of reducing their natural gas consumption by 15 percent
between August 2022 and March 2023 compared to the average of the past five
years. In December, Eurostat announced that the EU is on track with that goal,
with gas consumption in the EU-27 falling by about 20 percent over the
August-November period (compared to the 2017-2021 average).
As the details this infographic provides, over the period in question, consumption of gas has decreased in most member states. Among 18 countries, natural gas consumption has fallen beyond the 15 percent target, which includes Germany (-20 percent) and, in some cases there is a significant fall which includes countries like Finland (-53 percent), Latvia (-43 percent) and Lithuania (-42 percent). These are the countries to have seen the greatest reductions in consumption.
Other than these countries, 6 member states have not yet
reached the 15 percent target, although they have reduced their use of this
energy source. On the other hand, in two countries, natural gas consumption has
improved: in Malta (+7 percent) and Slovakia (almost +3 percent).
