The Green Tiger is a cross-sector collaboration platform which aims to devise, teach, and implement a plan for a balanced economy. The Green Tiger seeks a green leap in the development of Estonian society through cooperation with individuals, businesses, the public sector, and NGOs. The vision of the Green Tiger, a collaboration platform for sustainable businesses and organisations, implies that by 2025 Estonia will have developed a plan for the transition to an economy which is in equilibrium with nature.
What do we mean by a “balanced economy”?
The Green Transition will change our world to the same extent as the Digital Revolution did in the nineties. At the same time, the current economic model based on GDP, which encourages economic growth and overconsumption, is not motivating us to change our current way of thinking and behaviour fast enough or help us measure how much we have succeeded in our green steps.
If we want to bring our society to the next level, we need to find a new model that would foster development without contributing to the deterioration of the natural environment. this is what the Green Tiger calls a balanced economy.
What has the Green Tiger done for creating a balanced economy?
We believe the first ones to lead changes can participate in creating and shaping a new environment. All others will have to embrace the changes and adjust their lives accordingly.
The members of the Green Tiger, comprising more than 80 companies and organizations, have been analysing various sectors of economy in search of ways to achieve an equilibrium with nature within the sectors. Partners and competitors have been gathering at the meeting table to address 13 fields of the economy from transport to agriculture. Our ideas have been validated by the Green Tiger panel of scientists who made sure these were knowledge-based. Following the validation by scientists, the participants’ opinions have been forwarded to an expert committee within the Government’s Green Policy Steering Committee, to which the Green Tiger also belongs.
Roadmaps
We have completed our Energy Roadmap, including its revised version. The Energy Roadmap explains what future energy solutions could be used in Estonia to ensure the necessary security of supply while supporting the climate goals set for the country.
Key messages of the Energy Roadmap:
- Estonia will soon become an environmentally impoverished country unless we change our way of life and attitude towards nature. Year after year, we are left with less and less of what is essential for our existence: forest, air, water, animals, fish, insects, self-recovering natural communities and much more. This process of impoverishment is gaining pace, and it is a much more pressing problem than a decline in economic growth or financial wealth because it affects the aspects of everyone’s well-being and quality of life that cannot be directly measured in cash: health; mental, emotional, and physical satisfaction, and happiness.
- In case the recommendations given by the Green Tiger’s Energy Roadmap are followed, most of the heat and electricity consumption in Estonia could be covered with renewable sources by 2030.
- Paying people for energy consumption is a step in the wrong direction from the environmental perspective. This is why a certain timeframe must be established for energy price compensation, and it must only be paid to those who absolutely need it and imply an obligation of the eligible consumer to invest in energy efficiency. Regulated and fixed energy prices should only be used as a short-term measure.
- It is important that renovation subsidies from the state continue and be increased. Moreover, individuals’ measures to save energy should be supported in addition to renovation packages in case of residential buildings and apartment buildings.
The Construction Roadmap is to be completed in the spring of 2023. The Construction Roadmap suggests that the pilot projects for the measurement of the carbon footprint of new public buildings and infrastructures start in 2024 and the permitted CO2 footprint limits be established in 2025. The requirement of measuring the carbon footprint would apply to the private sector starting in 2025, and permitted limits, starting in 2026. CO2 footprint calculations, principles of circular economy and adherence to material recycling rates need to be taken into consideration in the process of issuing construction permits. The authors of the Construction Roadmap believe the above should become one of the first changes to be implemented.
We will continue devising roadmaps for other spheres as well.
The Green Tiger: the representative organization for sustainable companies
The Green Tiger representative organization was founded on 27 January 2021 with a view to uniting Estonian businesses in order to make our economy environmentally friendlier and more sustainable together. We believe that a joint and coordinated green leap will have a greater impact on society than the steps taken on one’s own. The idea of the Green Tiger representative organization lies in sharing its knowledge and tools for companies to make changes towards sustainability and to provide a collaboration platform for sharing experiences, success stories and the lessons its members have learned.
We believe that Estonia is the best country for the creation and implementation of innovative solutions. The future belongs to such economies, which provides motivation for making changes to support sustainability in companies and allows their results to be measured. Joining the Green Transition will in the end be cheaper than not doing it, and those opposing the change will eventually become the biggest losers. It is Estonians who can become the people to first achieve a balanced economy and set an example for the rest of the world.
The Green Tiger representative organization has 25 founding members: Wolfscape, Arcwood, Cronimet, Swedbank, LHV, Puhastusimport, A. Le Coq, Agrone, Bolt, Thermory, Vestman Grupp, Tere, Kaamos, Alexela, Ragn-Sells, Estonian Business School, Scandium Kinnisvara, Ülemiste City, Dimedium, KPMG Estonia, Pipedrive, Rally Estonia, Tallinna Sadam, TalTech, Utilitas.
Any companies and organizations that would like to lead the Green Transition are welcomed to join the Green Tiger.
The Green Tiger Academy
The Green Tiger Academy is management competences development programme for any companies and organizations that would like to make their operation more sustainable. The Green Tiger Academy offers a nine-month training programme of for learning skills for the knowledge-based implementation of the Green Transition. The programme was devised by the best industry-specific experts in Estonia, helping the participants to increase their capability for the implementation of ambitious changes in their business models, operation mechanisms, products, and services. The Green Tiger Academy features a high-level core programme, sector-specific short courses, and opportunities to consult our experts if necessary. In the autumn of 2022, the Green Tiger Academy started its third year in cooperation with all the universities in Tallinn (EBS, TalTech, Tallinn University and the Estonian Academy of Arts). The batch that graduated in the spring of 2022 comprised 13 companies and organizations, including the Government Office (Riigikantselei), Ekspress Meedia, and the Estonian Reform Party. In 2021, there were 15 graduates, including Tere, Bolt, LHV, Estonian Public Broadcasting (Rahvusringhääling), the Police and Border Guard Board, Rocca al Mare School, Elisa, and Coop.
Climate assemblies and green recommendations for local governments
In addition to companies and organizations, the Green Tiger also advises local governments. We have collected green recommendations from environmental associations that help municipalities and communities to accelerate the local green transition. The recommendations concern almost all areas for which local governments are responsible and actions that can be implemented with today’s financial resources. The recommendations are divided into six sub-topics: 1) biodiversity, 2) energy and climate, 3) waste and circular economy, 4) co-creative governance, 5) green procurement, 6) land use and planning. It is evident that the green transition applies to all areas for which local governments are responsible.
The Green Tiger, together with various partners, is introducing to Estonia the world-wide format of climate assemblies in order to make important long-term decisions together with citizens and to speed up the necessary environmental measures. A climate assemblies is an environment-related people’s assembly that accelerates the necessary environmental measures and enriches democracy. A climate assemble is like a mini-model of the ideal democracy: the mini-society first learns about the problem (the topic formulated by the climate assemble), reviews evidence and information about the problem (presentations of experts), after that gets to know the views of related interest groups, and only then discusses possible solutions (group discussions). At the very end, the final solution proposals are agreed upon by consensus. The first climate assemble took place in the winter of 2022 among the youth of Ida-Virumaa. The second climate assemble took place in the spring of 2022 in Tartu.
The Green Tiger is run by people who want to do something for the environment. Green tigers are united by a great sense of mission, expertise in their field and previous initiation or completion of environmental actions. The Green Tiger team consists of experts in their field, who involve volunteers and other professionals.
The Green Tiger Team
The Green Tiger is run by people who want to do something for the environment. Green tigers are united by a great sense of mission, expertise in their field and previous initiation or completion of environmental actions. The Green Tiger team consists of experts in their field, who involve volunteers and other professionals.
Members of the Green Tiger team
Partners of the Green Tiger:
KIK – strategic partner
OÜ Agenda Public Relations, OÜ Sustinere, Miltton Sisu OÜ, Teeme Ära SA, MTÜ Eesti Roheline Liikumine, Estonian Fund for Nature, Arengukoostöö Ümarlaud, Baltic Environmental Forum and many other environmental organizations.
