Eesti 200: Government must move forward with climate law

TALLINN - The climate law must be completed and passed, the board of the Eesti 200 party concluded at its Monday meeting, arguing that it would provide society and businesses with certainty about the future of the economic environment and help turn an economy with a smaller environmental impact into a competitive advantage for Estonia.

"Estonia greatly needs a climate law, and this realization has not changed over the intervening years. We still need to establish a reliable legislative framework that will regulate the connections between protecting our living environment and economic development in the coming decades and turn an economy with a smaller environmental footprint into our competitive advantage," said Eesti 200 chair Kristina Kallas, recalling the objectives formulated at the beginning of the climate law's development.

Kallas emphasized that adopting the climate law is stipulated in the coalition agreement between the Reform Party and Eesti 200 and was an objective in the election programs of most parties currently in parliament. "The Chancellor of Justice has stressed to the Riigikogu that the objectives we have undertaken cannot be enforced through an abstract general law, nor through regulations, development plans, or other similar documents. This means that no roadmap is sufficient for us if the legislature has not first agreed on where Estonia needs to arrive on these issues," Kallas added.

"The problems we wish to solve with the help of the climate law are not going away, nor do they depend on belief. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the government and the Riigikogu to reach a solution where the resulting obligations and restrictions receive a clear legal framework, while different interests are reasonably balanced in the process. On the other hand, we must give society and all sectors certainty about their future, while still allowing stakeholders the flexibility to adapt to changing technology and measures as needed," explained the Eesti 200 chair.

The foundational coalition agreement between the Estonian Reform Party and the Eesti 200 party provides for the adoption of a climate-resilient economy act to ensure long-term investment security and to agree on sector-specific climate targets.