Overview | November 2024

Energy transition

This is an average of 8 KPI’s that we detail

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On track

Portugal is progressing positively toward emissions reduction targets and increasing the share of renewables in its energy mix. Sales of electric vehicles and the progress on green hydrogen projects are on track or ahead of expectations. Only biomethane and biofuels technologies are lagging.


The country has excelled in managing energy costs, balancing affordable household electricity with more competitive industry costs, compared to the European Union.


Additionally, Portugal’s energy imports remain high, but are on track to achieve the goal defined for 2030.

Key highlights

35%

share of renewables in final energy consumption in 2022—the sixth best recorded in the European Union—on track to achieve the 51% ambition by 2030

32%

of new car sales are electrical vehicles, 10 percentage points ahead of the EU average, and on track to achieving the 2035 European goal of representing 100% new vehicle sales

50%

below the EU average, the industrial electricity price dropped sharply in 2023—the largest gap in a decade. The low cost of industrial electricity is one of Portugal’s most valuable competitive advantages

INDUSTRIALIZATION

This is an average of 6 KPI’s that we detail

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Lagging

Industry’s weight in the economy is lagging well behind EU averages and the industry employment share is the lowest in a decade. Exports are well behind expectations and are below the average performance of the last two years.


Despite robust investment in fixed assets and stable levels of vehicle production, R&D spending has almost stagnated over the past decade, potentially jeopardizing future innovation capacity.

Key highlights

14%

is the steady share of Portugal’s manufacturing GVA in total GVA over the past decade, remaining below the EU average of 16% and far from the 19% seen during the 1990s

€12 billion

in investments in industrial fixed assets was seen in 2022, showing a 14% year-on-year growth rate, after steadily growing since 2013. However, this growth has yet to be reflected in macroeconomic indicators such as GVA or employment

30,000

units is the decrease in total vehicle production in 2023 compared to the prepandemic levels. Additionally, only 0.1% of production is electric vehicles, compared to 30% in Germany

Energy transition KPIS

Sustainability

Greenhouse gas emissions reduction

+ subindicators

1

2

Renewables in energy mix

3

Electric vehicle sales

Renewable molecules adoption

+ subindicators

4

Reliability

5

Energy dependency

6

Network readiness

N/A

Affordability

7

Household electricity prices

Competitiveness

8

Industry electricity prices

Industrialization  KPIS

Industrial production

9

Industry gross value added

10

Vehicle production

Investments

11

Investment in fixed assets

12

R&D investment

Jobs

Industry employment

+ subindicators 

13

Exports

14

Industry exports

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