"The committee thoroughly discussed and revised the government's positions, making significant amendments and additions. The committee conditionally supports Estonia's negotiation stance. The conditionality stems from the need to establish prerequisites such as new technologies, availability of funding, consideration of regional and national specificities, adherence to climate change metrics and the flexibility to revise decisions if necessary. "This is not a binding decision; it is merely a negotiation position. However, we have thoroughly revamped it and strengthened this position," said Peeter Tali, chair of ELAK and a member of the Eesti 200 party, in an interview with ERR.

The decision was supported by 10 members of the committee during the session, while four voted against it.

Kristi Klaas, Ministry of Climate deputy secretary general in charge of the green transition, emphasized that the European Commission's climate target communication does not aim to increase ambition but rather to establish a trajectory for achieving existing goals. "This was not about setting a new level of ambition but about agreeing on a pathway to meet the existing targets," Klaas explained.

"We need certain enabling conditions to achieve this overarching goal. On the one hand, adequate funding must be ensured, particularly so smaller member states can access financing more easily. Similarly, certain technologies must be made available to achieve these targets across various sectors. Thirdly, we need to evaluate how we have met the 2030 targets, identify bottlenecks and assess how individual countries have performed in meeting these objectives to establish the 2040 targets accordingly," Klaas added.

ELAK's decision also highlights that EU industrial policy should support climate policy by promoting the use of natural materials and the development of markets for low greenhouse gas footprint products, while also enhancing the competitiveness of EU and member state enterprises. "When investing in critical raw materials and mineral projects, it is important to consider their role in achieving climate and energy goals. Banks should treat these projects as green investments under sustainable finance taxonomy," the document states.

Additionally, it notes that Estonia supports the development of metrics at the EU level to monitor climate adaptation efforts, enabling the effectiveness of measures to be assessed.

Opposition leader: Estonia's position spells additional obligations

Urmas Reinsalu, leader of the opposition party Isamaa – currently the most popular political party in the polls – criticized the Ministry of Climate's positions as ambiguous and misleading rhetoric. "Of course, Estonia adopts a political stance, which will be followed by the implementation of legally binding commitments for additional climate and green transition acts," Reinsalu stated.

"In light of Estonia's national economy and resilience, as well as Europe's competitiveness, this is highly irresponsible behavior. Business organizations have unanimously warned that without clarity on the consequences, this creates an indeterminate regulatory risk, and Estonia should not align itself with this," Reinsalu argued.

During the committee session, Reinsalu suggested that the Ministry of Climate should be dissolved, claiming it has become an ideological implementation agency for Europe's green transition. He proposed re-establishing the Ministry of the Environment, which would focus on nature conservation and environmental protection.

Reinsalu also expressed frustration that the Ministry of Climate and the government have begun implementing climate policy based on the draft Climate-Resilient Economy Act, which has not yet been adopted and has received overwhelmingly negative feedback from stakeholders.

During the session, Reinsalu proposed an alternative position rejecting the adoption of the 2040 climate targets. However, his proposal garnered no support beyond himself.

Reinsalu's alternative proposal follows in unedited form:

Estonia does not support the establishment of additional EU-wide climate targets and, therefore, opposes the European Commission's proposal to set a binding EU-level greenhouse gas reduction target for 2040.

The European Commission has not conducted a sufficiently thorough impact assessment.

Estonia proposes requesting the EU Council's Legal Service to carry out an analysis of the proposal's subsidiarity, proportionality and suitability of measures.

The Riigikogu emphasizes the importance of the Estonian government preparing a comprehensive impact assessment of the proposal's effects on different target groups and the Estonian economy as a whole.

Estonia underscores the need to initiate discussions on revising binding targets for the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) and Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) while replacing the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) to eliminate the current system of widely fluctuating CO₂ emission charges. This should be replaced with a pre-determined emissions fee system at the EU level.

The main shortcomings of the ETS are the leakage of CO₂ revenues to system speculators and the uncertainty of CO₂ charges, which hinders long-term investment decisions.

These shortcomings could be addressed by replacing the ETS with a harmonized emissions fee system within the EU, which would feature a predictable progression.

Estonia also considers it crucial to hold substantive discussions at the Council level, including drawing conclusions on the outlook for European industrial policy in global competition.

Estonia does not support the creation of a sector-specific climate metrics system at the EU level.

The Riigikogu European Union Affairs Committee places a reservation on the government's positions concerning new legally binding green transition initiatives.

The committee also finds it necessary to initiate proactive dialogue with other EU member states' parliaments regarding the use of the subsidiarity control mechanism in response to the potential initiative to enforce the new 2040 climate target.

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The European Commission has proposed that the European Union should reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent by 2040 compared to 1990 levels. Estonia, without additional technological solutions, could achieve an 82 percent reduction by 2040, which would require an estimated investment of over €3 billion over the next 15 years.

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