In 2022, Denmark saw remarkable achievements. Actual energy usage decreased by almost 3.8%, marking the lowest adjusted gross energy consumption in half a century. Simultaneously, renewable energy accounted for 81.4% of Danish electricity consumption  compared to 71.9% in 2021, a historically high proportion. These findings are detailed in the Energy Statistics 2022, released by the Danish Energy Agency.

Wind power contributed 53.6%, while biomass accounted for 18.9% and solar, hydropower and biogas the remaining 8.8%.

More generally, the actual consumption of renewable energy decreased by 1.2% in 2022 as a consequence of a large decrease of 29.0% in the consumption of wood pellets, while the consumption of biogas and solar energy increased by 10.2% and 48.1% respectively.

Decrease in consumption of fossil fuels

The consumption of natural gas fell by 29.3% last year, partly because high natural gas prices encouraged households and businesses to conserve. At the same time, bio natural gas accounted for a larger share of pipeline gas and the weather was warmer than usual last year. Consumption of coal and coke fell by 1.8%, continuing the downward trend seen in recent years. Since 1990, the consumption of coal and coke has been reduced by 82.8%. In the opposite direction is an increase in oil consumption for aviation of around 70% as a result of higher travel activity after the two corona years.

Decrease in CO2 emissions

Denmark's actual CO2 emissions from energy consumption decreased by 0.2 million tons to 27.7 million tons in 2022. When emissions are corrected for fuel consumption related to electricity trading and climate fluctuations, CO2 emissions fell 4.4% to 28.7 million tons. Since 1990, adjusted CO2 emissions from energy consumption have decreased 53.1%.