Frontpage » News » News 2005

Environmental Charges Help to Save Natural Resources and Promote Cleaner Production

At today’s cabinet meeting the government discusses the draft Environmental Charges Act. The aim of the Act is to promote the implementation of measures to protect the environment, encourage sustainable production and decrease pollution. The new draft establishes environmental charges for the period of 2006-2009. Environmental charges are based on the “polluter pays” principle.
Since the draft Environmental Charges Act embraces the regulations that used to be scattered in a number of different legal acts, it will considerably simplify the legal area. The objective of imposing environmental charges is to promote the sustainable use of natural resources, support more efficient use of raw material and fuel and encourage the users of natural resources and polluters of the environment to implement cleaner technologies and measures to protect the environment. Environmental charges are a necessary and effective means to achieve the sustainable use of natural resources and improve environmental protection. The charges will also provide great opportunities for implementing the national environmental policy.

As a result of inflation and other factors the environmental effect of environmental charges has proved to be smaller than expected. At the same time, the use of natural resources has considerably increased.
Therefore, the draft Act provides that some charges rates will increase remarkably as of 2006. After that, the charges would increase slower as it has been so far.

Environmental charges have the greatest impact on major polluters and large-scale users of natural resources, the biggest of which is the oil shale energy sector. So far, the state has indirectly subsidised this field for many years, imposing considerably lower charges than on other companies, especially concerning water use and discharge of waste.
The emissions trading scheme has created an opportunity for many companies to profit from the sale of emission allowances, which makes it possible to invest the sums and efficiently solve environmental problems. According to the Minister of the Environment Mr Villu Reiljan, claiming that electricity rates are affected by pollution charges is a misleading overstatement considering the current circumstances because right now the energy sector is far from having used all possibilities of cleaner production.

If, for example, the production of oil shale electricity is altered to become more environment-friendly, the price of electricity will not rise in 2006 due to the increase in environmental charges more than 1.5 cents per kWh and by 2009 the impact of the charges on electricity price would be greater by 4.5 cents per kWh than this year.

Further information:
Eva Kraav
Adviser of Environmental Economics and Control, Ministry of the Environment
Phone (+372) 626 2807

Mart Siilivask
Press Representative, Ministry of the Environment
Phone (+372) 626 2811; (+372) 523 8402
E-mail