Tackling climate change and Estonian energy policy: facilitating a meaningful dialogue about future

Energy production in Estonia is highly dependent on the use of oil shale which provides 70% of the country’s electricity supply. As a result, Estonia has one of the biggest carbon footprints in the world (14 tons of CO2 per capita), and the trend is rising. At the same time, there is no clearly expressed intention of promoting a transition to renewable energy in coming years.

The end of the oil shale industry would create major socio-economic risks in north-eastern Estonia and reduce state revenues. So far, there has been very little open discussion among stakeholders about climate policy, a possible energy transition and solutions for the foreseeable socio-economic consequences.

The project aimed to support dialogue on the country's future energy supply. To do this, it

1. strengthened the capacity of NGOs, 
2. facilitated dialogue by creating a discussion platform to include NGOs, the general public, local governments, business and labour unions, 
3. conducted studies to fill information gaps in current climate policy and explored economic perspectives for the currently monofunctional oil-shale Ida-Viru region in north-eastern Estonia, 
4. raised public awareness about climate change and challenges in the energy sector.

The project included workshops, round tables, and an information campaign. These measures were accompanied by the promotion of dialogue on the Internet and social networks.

The project has managed to initiate a broad social debate on a just transition away from shale oil power generation, which is putting this industry under pressure from various sides. The public discussion on the topic was broadened considerably, giving the project implementers and other NGOs significantly more space in the media and making them actively being requested as experts.

Although public investment projects are being pursued, important actors such as the banking sector are rejecting further investments in this sector due to economic risks. 

For the affected region, analyses of the employment effects of a shale oil phase-out and a switch to renewable energies, as well as economic prospects were prepared. These analyses, together with the Just Transition Plan elaborated by a broad group of stakeholders, are now available to policymakers as an important data basis for future decisions.