Sustainable governance and green procurements discussed at the Tallinn Green Governance Conference

The international Green Governance Conference Driving Change: Empowering Sustainability Through Green Governance was held today in Tallinn, with delegates from 24 cities and 10 countries.

As the European Green Capital 2023, the City of Tallinn has made green governance a top priority. “Today, you have an excellent opportunity to discuss this topic with the green governance frontrunners in the Baltic Sea Region, learn from each other and get inspiration. No matter whether your city is big or small, green governance is feasible everywhere. We will hear today about the cities' ambitions in implementing their green governance concepts. These stories will show us how cities are approaching the challenges of shifting to a circular future while making sure that our economy is climate-neutral and our living environment is toxic-free, which are also the ambitions of the European Green Deal,” said Deputy Mayor of Tallinn Mr. Tiit Terik this morning as he welcomed all the delegates.

The Green Governance conference aimed to unite cities from the Baltic Sea Region and beyond, fostering the exchange of best practices and discussions on the challenges of transitioning to green governance.

With green public procurement as a central theme, the conference recognized its vital role in implementing green governance and promoting sustainable consumption and production. Local governments possess significant potential to achieve sustainability goals through their procurement processes, particularly by ensuring they are not just climate-neutral but also circular and free from harmful toxins.

„Green public procurement has to become a norm and common practice. So that we don’t have to talk about green or circular or low carbon procurement anymore. We can talk about green procurement and it is natural that these include also integrated environmental and why not social aspects,” said the keynote speaker Evelin Piirsalu from Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn Centre.

During the event, the first-ever NonHazCity contest for tox-free, circular and climate-neutral buildings and building processes at municipalities was also launched.

The event was organised by the City of Tallinn, Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn Centre and Baltic Environmental Forum Estonia and it´s part of the Tallinn Greentech Week programme.

You can re-watch the conference online HERE.