Finland to implement 30% biofuel mandate by 2030

EXCLUSIVE: The government of Finland approved a new national Energy and Climate Strategy outlining how the country plans to reach both domestic and EU climate targets by 2030.

In the outline, Finland’s centre-right government set a goal to have the share of renewables in the Finnish energy pool surpass 50% during the 2020s, with a long-term goal of reaching carbon neutrality.

The share of biofuels in the fuel pool will be increased to 30% by 2030 as part of emission reduction plans’ special focus on road transport, where the government says the potential for reduction is the greatest.

Finland also wants to speed up renewing its car fleet and have 250,000 electricity- and 50,000 gas-fuelled vehicles on the road by the end of the strategy.

Subsidies for investment will be targeted primarily at commercialising new technology and at the burden-sharing sector, with a focus on advanced biofuel facilities.

Imports of petroleum products – including petrol, diesel, fuel oil, jet fuel, and kerosene – for domestic use will be decreased by 50% from 2005 levels by 2030.

Increasing the share of biofuels in transport is intended to cut back on oil use, with additional measures introduced to decrease the usage of petroleum products in heating and construction.

The government is also examining further steps to steer Finland towards an energy economy based entirely on renewables by 2050, and the potential and challenges of various 100% renewable energy sources will be mapped for different sectors.

Prior to drafting the energy strategy, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment published a report on the development economic viability of new and renewable energy technologies.

This article was written by Ilari Kauppila, deputy editor at Biofuels International