S. Korea to Increase Biodiesel Use

24 November 2008

The government of South Korea has announced plans to gradually increase the biodiesel blend ratio from its current level of 1% to 3% by 2012. In an effort to meet these targets, the government has extended industry tax breaks and has taken steps to increase local feed stock production to minimize import dependency, according to a report by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS).

The South Korean vehicle parc recently surpassed 16 million, an increase of more than 60% over the last decade; this has contributed to a doubling of annual carbon dioxide emissions. As a counter, the government intends to increase renewable fuels from the current level of 2% of total energy consumption to 4% by 2012, and 12% by 2030.

As part of a plan developed by the Ministry of Knowledge and Economy (MKE), the current biodiesel blend ratio of 1% will be increased 0.5 percentage points annually until it reaches 3% in 2012. The long-term objective is to eventually raise the blend ratio to 5%.