Copenhagen climate agreement to have positive effect on economy

According to Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, the Copenhagen climate agreement will have a positive effect on the economy as well, because the security of investors to utilise renewable energy on a wider scale will increase and, as a result, the need for state benefits will decrease in the long run.
“Today, security for investment into renewable [...]

Estonia has 85m tons of emissions credits to sell

The government decided at its Cabinet sitting on Thursday to sell Estonia’s unused pollution credits on the international market and said that the amount available for sale was 85.19 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
The price of carbon credits on the international market has been around 14-15 euros a ton in the recent month.
Prime Minister [...]

Estonia’s grain growing area 6 pct bigger

The size of the growing area of grain in Estonia this year is 328 800 hectares, which marks an increase of 6% compared with 2008, Statistics Estonia said.
The growing area of rye totals 65 500 hectares, of winter wheat 15 400 hectares and of summer wheat 78 300 hectares. Barley is grown on 141 500 [...]

Private forest owners can use support

Already for the second year, forest owners receive support for private forest land located in Natura 2000 area through Private Forest Centre; in 2009, the divided sum of money will reach 82 million kroons. Counted together with other support from the EU, the private forest owners can apply for a total of more than 100 million kroons. The [...]

Landfills failing to comply with environmental requirements to be closed

According to the Waste Act, all landfills which fail to comply with the requirements shall be closed for waste deposit by 16 July 2009 and be conditioned by 16 July 2013. As of now, the last ten landfills in Estonia failing to comply with the requirements have been closed: Oru, Käina, Sillamäe, Sõmeru, Adiste, Kudjape, Aardlapalu, Valga, [...]

Estonia’s opinion on Nord Stream environmental impact assessment

On 8 June, the Ministry of the Environment presented Estonia’s position to eight countries pointing out problems and shortcomings in the Nord Stream environmental impact assessment (EIA) report.
“Both the Espoo and national EIA reports are very voluminous and contain much material, however, several presumed impacts have been insufficiently analysed nor is there enough evidence and justifications [...]

11 000 gathered for brainstorming on May1

More than 11 000 people took part in the Minu Eesti (My Estonia) brainstorming endeavor on Friday that saw people all over the country come together for a “thinking bee” to find ways how to make life better and increase social cohesion. Organisers said that the event can be considered a success.
The number of “thinkinghouses” [...]

Estonians recycle more than EU average

According to the latest Eurostat study, residents of Estonia recycle 34% of household waste, which places it among the top EU nations in terms of recycling. The average recycling rate for the 27 member countries was 22%. Germany recycles 46%, Latvia 13%, Lithuania 2% and Finland 26% of household waste.
EU member states landfill 42% of [...]

Recreational fishing permits now available by mobile to those without ID cards

Since July amateur fishermen in Estonia have been able to pay for recreational fishing permits using their mobile phone, which has made obtaining a permit significantly easier. From today it is now possible for those who do not have an ID card to also pay for permits with their mobile.

“More than a million residents of [...]

Remediation of Sillamäe’s radioactive tailings pond completed

An international conference opening on Oct 28, 2008 in Jõhvi in Ida-Viru County will mark the completion of 10 years of remediation work on the radioactive tailings pond in Sillamäe. Cooperation between Estonia, the Nordic countries and the European Union has removed one of the greatest threats of pollution to the Baltic Sea.

“Sorting out the [...]