This summer, the European Commission proposed a climate package that is one of the most transformative to ever come out of Brussels. Under this package, every sector from aviation to agriculture and fuel trade to forestry will be involved in the reduction of carbon emissions. In the coming months, the second part of the climate package will be revealed, dealing with global supply chains, among other things. The coronavirus crisis has highlighted the instability of a number of global supply chains, which are now facing serious challenges, such as the low availability of semiconductors. Europe's over-reliance on critical raw materials and goods makes us vulnerable. Such strategic dependencies need to be addressed, especially given that the green transition will increase demand for a variety of minerals, including metals, by severalfold. The presentation will discuss how Europe’s new industrial policy addresses these challenges and what this might mean for our current economic model.

The green transition is best realised through areas that would need to be addressed anyway to increase overall well-being or achieve other goals. The construction industry offers an intriguing example of how one green transition has already been completed. The presentation will explore how the transition to the construction of nearly zero-energy buildings became possible and what this means for ordinary citizens. Another topic that ties into the green transition is the modernisation of the existing building stock and the streamlining of the district heating network. This has been achieved in Estonia mainly through funding from KredEx and the Estonian Centre for Environmental Investments. Here, too, it is interesting to consider how taxpayers’ money has been utilised and what the result has been, i.e. who have been the winners in this process. The experience of the construction industry as a leading field in the green transition is also worth applying to other areas where major shifts are yet to come.

The transition to a carbon-neutral economy will greatly increase demand for key metal and mineral raw materials. Is this an impossible mission for Europe, given that high-tech manufacturing here is heavily dependent on import for a number of critical metals? What opportunities are there in Estonia for the emergence of new raw material-based sectors, such as rare earth metals?

Economic history shows that economic development and the introduction of new products are neither spontaneous nor random, but have been rooted in half a century long technological and economic revolutions. The British Industrial Revolution laid the foundations for the dizzyingly rapid development of Europe’s economy compared to previous centuries. The new opportunities afforded by information technology have been one of the most important drivers of economic and social development in recent decades.

Will the green transition lay the groundwork for the next technological revolution? What will this means for the economies of Europe and Estonia?
 

The topic will be discussed in the paneldiscussion. Moderator of the discussion is Vice-Rector for Green Transition Helen Sooväli-Sepping.