S. Korea mulls 1% SAF mandate from 2027 onwards

South Korea is currently working on a plan to mandate international flights to mix at least 1% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) on all international flights departing from airports in the country from 2027 onwards.

The country’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport have set up plans to develop ‘SAF Expansion Strategy’.

South Korea is also seeing a lot of SAF investments with investors setting domestic production capabilities. Dansuk’s HVO facility to produce SAF is scheduled to come online by the second half of 2024.

The country is eyeing to capture 30% of the global blended SAF export market as part of its SAF Expansion Strategy.

Moreover, South Korean refining firm S-Oil announced that it has received the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), the ISCC EU and the ISCC PLUS approvals to produce SAF in the country. The company has already begun processing bio-based feedstocks, including used cooking oil and the by-products of palm oil, to produce SAF and naphtha.

Beyond S-Oil, chaebol LG has partnered with Italy’s Eni to launch a joint venture to process 400,000 tons of renewable bio-feedstocks annually to produce SAF, HVO and bio-naphtha. The final investment decision on the project is expected later this year with the aim of beginning operations at the biorefinery by 2026.

South Korean government officials say that the country’s four major oil refiners plan to invest a combined $4.5bn over the next seven years towards local SAF production capacity and other biofuels.

The ministries listed three key strategies to achieve the objectives of SAF Expansion strategy including expansion of local SAF demand, increasing domestic production capacity and facilitate players with favourable legal and regulatory environment.