DEVELOPMENT

Figure 3.5.4
Greenhouse gas emissions in Estonia, 1995–2010, 1,000 tonnes CO 2
eq
Other Wastes Agriculture Industrial processes Transport Manufacturing industry and construction Power industry
22,500
22,500
20,000
20,000
17,500
17,500
15,000
15,000
12,500
12,500
10,000
10,000
7,500
7,500
5,000
5,000
2,500
2,500
0
0
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2008
2010
Source: Eurostat/EEA
The largest part of Estonia’s Ecological Footprint
is comprised of the Carbon Footprint and forestry
(Figure 3.5.2). Somewhat surprising is the change in
the Footprint related to forest and lumber products,
between 2000 and 2005, which partially coincides with
the period of the largest logging volumes and exports,
but which, considering the Ecological Footprint methodology,
should reflect final domestic consumption.
Estonia’s very large Carbon Footprint is caused primarily
by the power industry, which is based on oil
shale and the large consumption of natural resources
related thereto. Therefore, below, we will take a closer
look at Estonia’s greenhouse gas emissions, its Carbon
Footprint, the energy intensity of the economy and
resource productivity. There are few surveys of the specific
areas of consumption that increase the Ecological
Footprint, and the latest data on Estonia is for 2004,
and available from the One Planet Economy Network
database (2011). Based thereon, the greatest consumption
occurs in the following sectors: food (including,
especially meat, milk, fish), housing (electricity and
heating), goods (forestry products, chemical products)
and transport (Figure 3.5.3).
3.5.3
Greenhouse gas emissions and
the Carbon Footprint
As far as greenhouse gas emissions are concerned,
compared to the levels agreed upon in the Kyoto
Protocol, Estonia’s greenhouse gas emissions are currently
significantly smaller than in 1990 (40% less),
although the main reduction took place between
1991 and 1994, immediately after the collapse of the
Soviet Union and the industry and agriculture related
to it. However, in 2010, Estonia was still among the
20 countries producing the most greenhouse gases
per capita in the world (World Development Indicators
2012). As Figure 3.5.4 shows, most of Estonia’s
greenhouse gas emissions are caused by the power
industry, which is based on the use of oil shale, but
an increasingly large part comes from transportation.
According to the Säästva transpordi raport (Sustainable
Transport Report), people are not widely aware of the
energy conservation potential of transport, primarily
related to passenger cars (Jüssi et al., 2010).
Currently Estonian, EU and the UN databases
report on the CO 2 emissions emitted into the air on the
country’s territory, in the last few years, attention has
increasingly been directed toward the indirect “export”
and “import” of CO 2 emissions through international
commerce. This means that, if Estonia exports some of
the electricity it produces using oil shale, then the CO 2
footprint that results from this power production will be
recorded as the CO 2 footprint of the population in the
consuming countries, not as the CO 2 footprint of Estonia’s
population. At the same time, access to the data needed
to compute an indicator that includes the global trade
balance is a time-consuming process – the last available
data is for 2004 and, unfortunately, there is no possibility
to analyse the present trend of the changes taking place
(Figures 3.5.5 and 3.5.6).
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Estonian Human Development Report 2012/2013