Climate ministry's creation financially beneficial for Estonian state

The creation of the Estonian Ministry of Climate, which is made up of several ministerial departments, will not come at any additional cost to the state. The ministry's creation will also lead to additional savings for the state due to reduced operational costs.
"Our costs have not increased, they are decreasing," Keit Kasemets, the ministry's permanent secretary, told ERR on Friday.
"The annual savings in our operating costs will be in the region of €900,000. In terms of real estate costs, the state will save the same amount as previously spent on renting separate office space. On top of that, less money will be spent on office and other support services, and the number of senior managers has also been reduced," ministry spokesperson Gerly Mägi told ERR.
According to data sent by the Ministry of Climate's press service, the new ministry will have 313.2 posts, of which 198.5 were transferred from the Ministry of the Environment and 114.7 from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications.
Prior to the reorganization of the ministries, the Ministry of the Environment had 215.5 posts, of which 17 were transferred to the Ministry of Regional Affairs.
According to a climate ministry spokesperson, the number of staff has not increased, but has in fact been reduced by two senior managers. It will also be reduced further by the end of the year, as a number of the ministry's support services will be merged with those of the joint ministerial building in which it is housed.
There has also been no increase to the ministry's staffing costs, although the two ministries had different pay scales and, as expected, the salaries of some the lower paid officials now need to be increased.
"Now there are some pay discrepancies, so we have to deal with them at the expense of internal efficiency," Kasemets said.
Kasemets added, that there are also no plans to increase staff costs next year.
As of September 1 this year, the average number of staff in the Ministry of Climate is 289.
The Ministry of Climate is responsible for the Environmental Board and the Transport Administration.
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Editor: Michael Cole