Ministry of Environment Vows Improvements
Ministry of the Environment says the nation's environmental record has made progress since the 2000-2010 period, which was given a crushing assessment by Yale and Columbia universities on Monday.
Estonia placed 54th out of 132 nations in the 2012 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), which rates the strength of legislation related to protecting natural resources and controlling pollution. That would not be so bad, if Estonia hadn't been 27th just five years ago.
More alarmingly, the Pilot Trend Environment Performance Index, which assessed policies between 2000 and 2010, placed Estonia 128th - not far from Russia, which tied up last place with 132nd. Latvia, on the other hand, placed first.
Ministry officials admitted that Estonia was among the least environmentally friendly countries during the last decade, in large part due to oil shale production, a polluting and unsustainable source of energy.
But Estonia has made improvements in recent years, according to the ministry. For instance, renewable energy as a source for electricity production grew to 10 percent in 2010.
"Most of those data are no longer up to date,” said Brita Merisalu, a spokeswoman for the ministry. "Unfortunately, this study has not yet taken into account the substantial investments in decreasing carbon dioxide emissions and saving resources that have been made in recent years.”
The spokeswoman continued: “In forestry as well, the study has for some reason taken into account a 2007-2008 forecast (not even the data, just the forecast) for the year 2010. But in 2011 a new forestry development plan was approved, permitting only as much timber to be chopped down as can be regrown."
Ott Tammik