"The drafting of the Climate-Resilient Economy Act has prompted many sectors to give serious thought to how their activities impact the climate," Alender said, commenting on the new legislation.

"While the law sets specific expectations for the public sector, this shared reflection will help [us] take more precise action," she continued. "The law is a realistic and honest agreement. The government's job now is to thoroughly review the bill once more."

According to the ministry, the current version of the bill has been supplemented in several respects compared with the version submitted for a round of approval over the summer. More than 60 different organizations submitted their proposals for changes to the bill.

Alender noted that particular attention has been paid in the updated bill to simplifying and accelerating the adoption of new technologies.

"Among other things, the law stipulates that every five years, a report will be drawn up to assess the impact of climate measures on competitiveness and the potential for implementing new technologies," she explained. "This way we can ensure that measures keep up with the times, goals remain relevant and progress in meeting them stays on track."

The bill also refines certain principles. "We must ensure that all investments are made in the right direction, so that our children don't have to deal with the costly consequences of shortsighted and wrong decisions," she added. This is why the principles of the circular economy and spatial development, for example, were updated.

The bill's investment needs and impact assessments have been revised as well. According to the ministry, the impact assessments revealed that up to 30,000 jobs could be created if the planned investments are implemented.

Following the economic cabinet discussion, further specifications will be added to the bill if necessary. Before being submitted to the government for final approval, the bill must be reviewed and approved by the Ministry of Justice, Once greenlit by the government, the bill will then proceed to the Riigikogu.

The version of the climate bill submitted for a round of approval this summer sparked concerns among entrepreneurs and environmentalists alike, and drew significant criticism from other ministries as well. Critics described the bill as vague, harmful to the economy and meaningless.

Läänemets: Climate law still needs a lot more work

"It must be said that there's still a very long way to go from here," Minister of the Interior and Social Democratic Party (SDE) chair Lauri Läänemets told ERR on Thursday, commenting on the updated bill.

"Many of the observations made by both the Social Democrats as well as entrepreneurs and environmental organizations regarding this law have not yet been taken into account in the bill," he explained. "We believe this law needs to be significantly revised."

The interior minister said that on Thursday, they listened to the climate minister's presentation, asked questions and pointed out that, for them, certain key issues still remain unresolved.

"A lot of work still needs to be done on this law," he said. "Whether that's in the form of a new law or amendments to the existing law, I'd leave up for the ministry themselves to decide."

Läänemets noted that the SDE's parliamentary group found the bill as presented to the government on Thursday to be unpolished, and plans to meet with the climate minister again early next year.

He also highlighted issues that the Social Democrats still await further feedback on, and which are most important to them.

"The first question is, how is it justified to abandon the fulfillment of current climate goals, i.e. mitigation measures?" he asked. "What will this entail? What impact will it have? We still don't have a clear understanding of this."

The second, the SDE chief continued, concerns the fact that climate change in general, as well as this law, will bring about many changes that will significantly affect businesses and people's lives throughout the country.

"What adaptation measures are there?" he asked. "How do we ensure that the economy remains functional and people can make a good living? These questions aren't sufficiently addressed [in the bill]."

Läänemets likewise emphasized that the Social Democrats consider a rescue strategy for Estonia's wood industry critical.

"We know that logging volumes will inevitably decrease in the future, so it would be wise to transition now to smaller logging volumes while supporting value-added growth in the wood sector – and with that, we'll maintain today's GDP and jobs" he explained.

"And with lower logging volumes, the burden on agriculture and the transport sector will decrease as well," he continued. "We should avoid placing such a heavy burden on agriculture and transport in this position, because this, in turn, will lead to rising food prices."

The SDE chair was unable to estimate when the bill might receive the government's stamp of approval.

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