Climate Minister Kristen Michal (Reform) has authorized the construction of a new oil shale mine. However, the minister said this was only a transient solution and that he does not see a future for the oil shale industry.

"My personal position, and that of the Coalition, is that all such polluting, high environmental footprint businesses will take a back seat to businesses with a smaller environmental footprint," he said, adding that the sector's window of opportunity is closing fast.

On the one hand, there are the financial markets, which no longer finance this so-called "brown industry," and on the other, there is the product itself, which no longer has a high price and could not enter the market, because it is polluting.

"In any event, this is the position we have taken, and I want to implement these deadlines through amendments to the Earth Resources Act and the Climate Act," Michal said.

VKG, an oil shale oil producer that is constructing a new mine in the municipality of Lüganuse, will employ 1,600 individuals. According to Ahti Asmann, chair of the company's management board, the exit from the oil shale industry in Ida-Viru County should be preceded by the establishment of new job-creating businesses.

"Ida-Viru County requires a rational approach; we need time to establish a new business and economic model. Today, in addition to our existing activities, VKG is developing a bio-products industry and the recycling of plastic waste industry. So we are really working hard to carry on working," Asmann emphasized.

VKG plans to open a waste paste treatment plant in 2026 and a bio-products plant a year later.

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