Former environment ministry secretary general takes up top post at VKG
Meelis Münt has been appointed head of regulatory relations for industrial projects at shale oil producer Viru Keemia Group (VKG). The company says his extensive experience in top roles at the environment ministry, now the Ministry of Climate, will help it navigate its way through the regulatory labyrinth which moves towards the green transition have brought.
Meelis Münt worked for many years at the former Ministry of the Environment, including as its secretary general, and will be joining VKG at the end of this month, the company says.
Münt's main tasks will be to support VKG's developments, including circular economy projects.
VKG board chair Ahti Asmann said that the number of different laws, regulations and restrictions that a large-scale industry like VKG has to take into account in its daily activities has increased exponentially over the past few years.
"Meelis Münt's long-term experience in the environmental field will undoubtedly enable VKG to find the best solution for all parties when implementing new developments," Asmann said.
"In this way it will contribute, among other things, to the success of a project which will help to fulfill the national goals in the better appreciation of wood as a fuel, and the circular economy," Asmann went on.
Asmann noted that not only in VKG's core business of shale oil production, but also when implementing new bio- and circular economy projects, the company constantly bump s into regulatory barriers relating to climate change regulations.
These barriers, he said, inhibit the development of the business in Ida-Viru County.
"This makes it inconceivable for a major industry to implement development projects without corresponding top specialists who know the regulations inside and out," he went on, hence the need to hire Münt.
Münt himself said that VKG's projects and investments can lead to the creation of hundreds of jobs, benefiting Ida-Viru County and Estonia more broadly, and in a way which recognizes that the green transition cannot happen overnight by damaging people's sense of social security.
Meelis Münt worked at the Ministry of the Environment 2008-2023 in various top posts, culminating in the secretary general position.
From July 1, a reorganization of ministries saw the Ministry of the Environment become the Ministry of Climate, with a reshuffle of tasks between it and the Ministry of Rural Affairs, which in turn was rebranded as the Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture.
Keit Kasemets is Ministry of Climate secretary general.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte