EU can afford it, some say. We say: we will help you. Also Estonia has this year allocated 1.5 million euros to international climate change collaboration, in addition to our development co-operation funds.
But sometimes political will must come before money. There have been many calls for action in different walks of life, from abandoning coal to increasing biodiversity. Some might say that these are only words. But those words have led to action.
However, we understand that not all calls for action are easy to join for each country. We all have our own economic models and specific challenges. Estonia had a very difficult starting position, being almost completely dependent on energy from our national fossil fuel - oil shale. But we have already reduced our emissions around 70%.
Green transition is a reality in Estonia. We aim to stop production of electricity from oil shale by 2035 and phase out oil shale based energy entirely by 2040.
We have been helped by the collective political will of the EU, its carbon market, and its support schemes. But the change is driven and implemented by the Estonian people, their openness to reforms, their digital skills and a vision for the future. As I am proud of the EU efforts, I am also proud of Estonia, our people, and companies.
I mentioned digital skills. We believe that digital solutions have a big role to play in achieving energy efficiency, waste reduction as well as any other green goal. We want to share our ideas with other countries at this conference and from here on.
Data is an important building block in our joint efforts to fight climate change. For this reason, Estonia has launched in the UNEP framework a new global cooperation called “Data for the Environment Alliance” or DEAL in short. I take this opportunity to invite all parties to join this initiative to improve data management capacities across the globe.
I would like to sincerely thank the UK and the UN for organizing this conference in these challenging circumstances. To our negotiators, I wish constructive spirit. Let the history remember COP26 for its results!