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NCM Office in Estonia boosts green growth in the Baltic Sea Region

About us, Green growth

Rohevik“During recent years a lot has been invested in property and fossil fuels instead of renewable energy, public transportation, water conservation or sustainable agriculture,” stated Ville Niinistö, Finnish Minister of the Environment in his opening speech at a green growth conference in Tallinn, Estonia. The conference, ‘Smart Growth. Green Transport’ takes this approach emphasising the potential in environmentally friendly innovations in the Baltic Sea Region.

“It is important that governments set the scene for enterprises and other economic players. The investments need sound legislative ground and an enabling environment,” spoke Niinistö at the conference in the Riigikogu, the Parliament of Estonia. He also stressed the unique opportunity that the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) provides if there’s a will to go beyond “business as usual talk”.

The high-level international conference ‘Smart Growth. Green Transport’ stressed the need to find new ways of generating energy, increasing the amount of energy produced from renewable sources and arranging transport in a new manner that is energy efficient and clean.

Ville Niinistö

Estonia has taken the first big steps. Estonia is supporting the purchase of electric cars, has bought 507 Mitsubishi i-Mievs for social workers and is establishing the necessary infrastructure. This is the beginning of a green future that still needs a lot of complex research and development that also influences Nordic electric vehicle initiatives and strives for cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region.

From 15-17 September 2011 the Estonian-Nordic Green Growth Festival ROHEVIK in Tartu and Tallinn looked to the kind of future that will be built on sustainable and environmentally friendly ways of life, with a focus on electric cars. The festival consisted of three days:

o 15.09: ‘Modern Eco-cities’ – international conference at the Estonian University of Life Sciences in Tartu (about 170 participants)
o 16.09: ‘Smart Energy and Green Transport’ – international conference in the Riigikogu /the Parliament of Estonia/ in Tallinn (about 135 participants)
o 17.09: ‘Our Future – Electric Vehicles’ – family event on Vabaduse väljak /Freedom Square/ in Tallinn (at least 2000 participants)

The Rohevik festival was one of the highlights marking the 20th anniversary of the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Estonia. NIB, Nefco, Nordic Innovation, Tallinn and Tartu city government, several Estonian ministries, the Finnish embassy in Tallinn and others were engaged in organizing the festival besides the NCM Office in Estonia.

Find out more (programmes, electric cars presentations, pictures, etc) at Rohevik’s website.

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