# The Perspective of Large-Scale Production of Algae Biodiesel
## 4 Results and Discussion
### Opportunities
#### 4.3.5 Political  
In general, each region or country has played a role in renewable energy in its long- and short-term energy planning to secure a sustainable and competitive source of energy. The production and use of biofuels are primarily governed by national policies aimed at reducing dependence on fossil fuels while reducing the impact of GHG emissions. In 2017, Europe was one of the leaders in the global algae-produced- biofuel market. Europe has a significant demand for algae biofuels due to government regulations. Germany has contributed most to this region, thanks to the presence of leading car manufacturers. The European Union has put in place different policies to determine the level of application of renewable energy sources. The Renewable Energy Directive (RED) sets a mandatory target to apply at least 10% of biofuels in transport by 2020. Although the share of biofuels used for transport in the EU rose from 7.4% in 2017 to 8.1% in 2018, this is below the EU target [103]. This directive is expected to trigger the market for algae biofuels in Europe. European Parliament has restricted the production of crop-based biofuels to support algae and other inedible biomass production. According to RED, the European Commission requires the use of biofuels and bioenergy to achieve the climate and energy targets to be fulfilled in the EU by 2020. To ensure the sustainable use of these bioenergy resources, RED has established criteria and targets for achievement. According to RED, it is necessary to achieve a minimum threshold for reducing GHG emissions from the use of biofuels by 35%. The targeted reduction in GHG emissions from biofuel substitution was a minimum of 50% in 2017. The target of GHG emission reduction was set at 60% in 2018. The BioFAT project, coordinated by Portugal, aims to demonstrate algae farming on an area of 10 hectares and the production of biodiesel and ethanol. In this project, carbon dioxide will be produced from some fermentation industries. At this time, two pilot plants have been built, namely in Italy and Portugal. In the United States, the national standard organization of this country has succeeded in raising the quality of renewable fuels and increasing the types of fuels included in this category. The country has also targeted to produce renewable fuels of 36 billion gallons by 2022. The commitment of the Chinese government to the application of renewable fuels can be seen from their five-year plan, which has entered the third stage. Quite a lot of research has been carried out by involving research institutes, companies, and universities, particularly in developing biodiesel algae. The government has funded quite a lot of research to harvest microalgae and produce it into fuel, and develop more appropriate and economical technologies. South Korea is sponsoring four major R&D projects, starting in 2019. The Sea and Seaweed Biomass Development Project focuses on the production of clean energy from seaweed biomass. Global Frontier project has incorporated the algae technology, which explores mass production of the biomass, and another project to explore technology for CO\({}_{2}\) capture and storage. The program for utilizing biofuels derived from algae was also developed in Japan. This country concentrates on the production of jet fuel, which began commercialization in 2020. Likewise, Taiwan already has a law on the use of renewable fuels in 2009. The field of research developed mainly on the selection of microalgae, breeding types, and extraction of lipids. Two enterprises investigate CO\({}_{2}\) emission reductions by feeding the algae with fumes. The Energy and Environmental Research Laboratory also study topics relevant to algae biofuel production. In India, the National Biofuels Policy supports the funding of all generation biofuels research, which explores research such as sewage treatment of algae and biofuels from phytoplankton algae products. Many universities are engaged in this kind of research. Brazil is known for producing cane bioethanol.