CONTACT DETAILS

Project manager: Villu PELLA , villu.pella@tallinnea.ee

Communication Manager: Triin SAKERMAA, triin.sakermaa@tallinnlv.ee

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Tallinn City Government Environment Department is an institution which answers to the City Government of Tallinn and with functions assigned to it by the Tallinn legislation and statutes.

The main tasks of the board with regard to monitoring, analyzing and developing measures of environmental protection are, among others:

- Developing and organizing the implementation of the environmental strategy and action plans of the city; b Environmental monitoring and analysis;
- Propagating environmental awareness, sustainable development and environmentally friendly consumer mentality;
- Consulting persons in making decisions that have an impact on the environment;
- Developing the legal acts of Tallinn that concern any issues within the competency of the board; b Organizing public involvement and activities concerning environmental education and information.

The main tasks of the board with regard to organizing processes that improve the living environment in the city are, among others:

- Making proposals for placing valuable landscapes that represent the uniqueness of the city\\'s nature, culture and settlement system or individual components of such landscapes under protection and;
- Establishing the terms of their use, and;
- Managing objects in the city that have been placed under protection.

Tallinn Energy Agency’s, administered by Tallinn Environment Department, main tasks are:

- Organizing the fulfillment of the obligations under the Covenant of Mayors, and coordination of preparation of action reports;
- Developing and implementing the Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP);
- Monitoring the implementation of the SEAP, organizing research and amending and supplementing the
SEAP;
- Increasing public awareness in the field of sustainable energy, including organizing events;
- Developing or participating in the development of legislation on sustainable energy measures and its principles;
- Initiating and completing projects in cooperation with the relevant authorities in the city in the area of sustainable energy, including foreign funded projects.

In February 2009, Tallinn joined the Covenant of Mayors, the international co-operation of communities. Accordingly, the city has undertaken the duty to reduce its CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020 as a result of a 20% improvement in energy efficiency and a 20% share of renewable energy sources in the energy mix. Hence the main objective in the field of energy in Tallinn is to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, and to increase the renewable energy share.

It is essential to save energy in housing services. Half of Tallinn\\'s housing stock was built between 1960 and 1990. The majority of this housing has reinforced concrete slabs, which offer poor thermal resistance. The available results from energy consumption analyses clearly show that the share of residential buildings in the total energy consumption balance amounts to 40%, and the trend is even rising. House insulation and the construction of new energy-efficient houses will enable the saving of up to 30% of consumed heat. Buildings\\' energy audits and the energy performance certificate system will contribute to the achievement of this objective. The Energy Efficiency Action Plan for Tallinn aims to reduce heat consumption by 2% annually. Thus, by 2020, heat consumption will have been reduced by 23% in comparison to 2007.The decrease in heat consumption can be achieved with the application of the following energy-saving measures:

- Renovation and insulation of existing dwellings;
- Construction of new dwellings equipped with advanced insulation; b Renovation of heating networks and reduction of losses;
- Renovation and balancing of dwellings\\' heat supply systems.

Therefore, achieving the ambitious goals for energy efficiency mainly depends on improved energy efficiency in residential buildings. Effective measures are necessary in order to motivate energy consumers to take responsibility for the environment, increase their awareness of possible benefits and provide easy access to the latest information about effective measures for private houses. Currently, several measures are being implemented or planned to improve energy efficiency in the public and private buildings sector (e.g. issuing energy performance certificates for buildings, thermal renovations and public granting of credits, etc.).

Over the last decades, the number of vehicles on Tallinn\\'s streets has increased several times. In 2001, there were 175.000 vehicles registered in Tallinn according to the Estonian Motor Vehicle Registration Centre. By the end of 2007, the number of vehicles had increased to 251.000. Thus, in 7 years time the number increased by 76.000, which is 11.000 or 5-6% of vehicles per year on average. Over the last years, the growth in the number of vehicles remained steady. Air pollution and noise from too intensive traffic could create threats to residents’ health.

- It is necessary to ensure the priority of public transport in Tallinn\\'s traffic (traffic lanes, traffic lights that partly regulate public transport traffic, bicycle paths and footpaths, if necessary, construction of pathways for bicycles and public transport, etc.);
- Pay special attention to the development of environmentally friendly electrical transport; b Traffic in the city centre shall be regulated in favor of public transport.

This has led to the introduction of free public transport in Tallinn in January 2013.

The social aspects of this decision are mainly to guarantee mobility for unemployed and low income residents, and to facilitate sharing common space for different segments of the society by using public transport.

The economic aspects were to increase labour mobility in the city limits, and to stimulate consumers’ activity (savings from public transport are spent for local goods and services).

The green aspects of this has been to contribute to a modal shift from cars to public transport, to maintain clean air in the city centre, to reduce the noise levels in the centre, and to have more urban space.

The authorities believe that free transport will help making the city more attractive for employees and investors, providing mobility to the unemployed and low income residents and enhance environmental credentials and performance prior to Tallinn becoming European Green Capital in 2018.