Finland's wood-based biofuel use to rise 2.5-fold by 2012

The Finnish Minister of Trade and Industry, Mauri Pekkarinen, told the Finnish Parliament on Wednesday that he wanted to further strengthen Finland's position as the EU leader in the use of bioenergy.

Unveiling the energy and climate policy report, he estimated that the use of wood-based biofuels would grow 2.5-fold by 2012.

Also included in the report is to increase the use biofuels to five per cent of all traffic fuels. Mr Pekkarinen said concrete steps to hit the target were being planned.

The overall target of the Finnish energy and climate strategy is to increase the total use of renewable energy by about a half from the current level by 2025.