Virtual Tour Estonia – Renewable Energy Plans and Biodiversity must Go Hand in Hand

In Estonia, the transition to renewable energies did not make progress for a long time. The key reason for this was that the steps needed to unlock the country’s huge untapped solar and wind potential were not being taken. In the last ten years, for example, no wind farm with more than three turbines has been built. Now the energy crisis forces decision-makers to take action, with plans underway to speed up the permitting process for wind farms. Although the transition to renewables is welcome, it is equally important to prevent the damage to nature that can occur when long-needed policy reforms are drawn up in haste. Ecosystems and biodiversity must not be sacrificed in the rush towards carbon neutrality.

This Virtual Tour around Estonia published by EUKI project Local Leaders for the Next Generation features interviews with climate experts from politics, civil society and academia. It sheds a light on the challenge of expanding renewable energy with wind warms while at the same time finding the smallest possible impact on the natural environment and increasing natural sequestration capacities.