Tallinn: towards the European Green Capital Award

7/28/2019 Tallinn: towards the European Green Capital Award

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Tallinn: towards the EGreen Capital Awa


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DEAR READERSOver the past number of years,Tallinn has become a cleaner, moreattractive place to live. The citygreens are biologically diverse;parks, outdoor sports facilities andplaygrounds offer active recreationalopportunities. Foot paths and cyclelanes encourage people to choosemore environmentally friendly modesof transport. The fact that free publictransport services have reduced private vehicle traffic by 15 percent has not gone unnoticed elsewhere in Europe. What we havewe can offer to other European countries but we also have a lotto learn from them. Tallinn can use its experience in creating amore environmentally friendly, clean urban space in preparationfor competing for the European Green Capital Award. Sincethe idea of the European Green Capital Award was originallyconceived in 2006 in Tallinn, we have been committed to being apacesetter. We are facing an important and difficult challenge tobecome the European Green Capital by 2018. Tallinn has a goodchance of becoming the Green Capital we have achieved therequired results in at least three criteria: nature and biodiversity,public transport and eco-innovation.However, Tallinn has a long road of hard work and commitmentahead in meeting all 12 of the Green Capital Award criteria:local contribution to global climate change, local transport,green urban areas incorporating sustainable land use, natureand biodiversity, quality of local ambient air, noise pollution,waste production and management, water consumption, wastewater treatment, eco-innovation and sustainable employment,environmental management of the local authority, and energyperformance. We have the potential to achieve these goals.

Green Tallinn is worthy of the European award!

SincerelyArvo SarapuuDeputy-Mayor of Tallinn


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EUROPEANGREEN CAPITALAWARDThe idea of a European Green Capitalwas initiated in 2006 by Jri Ratas,the then Mayor of Tallinn. The firstwinners of the Green Capital Awardwere Stockholm and Hamburg in2010 and 2011, respectively. It is notnecessarily a capital city that wins the

award all cities across Europe withat least 200,000 inhabitants can applyto become a European Green Capital.The purpose of the European GreenCapital Award is to improve theenvironment in European citiesand the environment as a whole.Nowadays, three in four Europeans

live in an urban environment and,therefore, cities play an importantrole in improving the environment andquality of life of urban populations.The title of European Green Capital(EGC) is awarded by the EuropeanCommission in recognition of theefforts of cities to improve the

environment and quality of life forgrowing urban populations. The titlespurs applicant cities to strive for acleaner, better and more sustainableurban environment. A winning city actsas a role model, inspiring other citiesto commit to further action in orderto create a better living environment

for their inhabitants and encouragingthe exchange of best practices amongEuropean cities.


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ELIGIBILITYThe title of European Green Capital is awarded to a city that has improvedits urban living environment as a whole through various activities, includingthe implementation of sustainable mobility solutions, creation and expansionof parks, green areas and other recreational areas, modernisation of wastemanagement, innovative solutions to noise pollution, an integrated approachto urban management ensuring positive long-term effects, and cooperationand partnership between authorities, citizens, business, and otherstakeholders aimed at developing and improving urban living conditions.The contribution to the improvement of the environment by the citiesentering the European Green Capital Award is assessed on the basis of 12

environmental indicators:local contribution to global climate changelocal transportgreen urban areas incorporating sustainable land usenature and biodiversityquality of local ambient airnoise pollution

waste production and managementwater consumptionwaste water treatmenteco-innovation and sustainable employmentenvironmental management of the local authorityenergy performance


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European Green Capital 2018 applications should be submitted in 2015and the winner will be announced in 2016. The application must includeinformation about each indicator, describing the present status of theenvironment in the city, the measures implemented over the last five toten years to improve the environment and the objectives accomplished.The application should also give an overview of the short and longterm objectives for the future and the proposed approach to achievethese as well as any adverse effects or restrictions that may affect theenvironmental indicators, such as disadvantages resulting from historicaland/or geographical factors. All these factors are taken into account inassessing applications.


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POTENTIAL AND ACTIVITIESOF TALLINN TO BECOMEEUROPEAN GREEN CAPITALTallinn will have to make a determined effort to win the title of European GreenCapital in 2018. However, every action initiated as an applicant for the title willin itself help to make Tallinn more environmentally sustainable and promote itas a city that contributes to the environment.Becoming a European Green Capital in 2018 is one of the defined objectives inthe Environmental Strategy of Tallinn up to 2030 and in the Tallinn EnvironmentalProtection Development Plan for 2013-2018. The Tallinn EnvironmentalProtection Development Plan includes, inter alia, the measures and activitiesnecessary in applying for the title of European Green Capital.Based on analysis of the applications submitted by the five winning cities,

there are three areas in which Tallinn could achieve significant improvementby relatively simple means. These areas are: nature and biodiversity, localtransport and eco-innovation.


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Nature and biodiversity is anindicator that would make Tallinn standout as a leader among the candidates.In Tallinn, not only protected areas butalso numerous other natural and semi-

natural areas (including wastelands)provide habitats for hundreds ofspecies of plants and animals, manyof which are protected both nationallyand in Europe. Green areas comprise25 per cent of the territory of Tallinn ornearly 100m per resident, more thanNantes or Copenhagen the presentand the next European Green Capital can boast. In the field of nature, urbanbiota studies are required to obtain amore precise overview of biodiversityin the city. Biotope mapping, forexample, could be used to improvethe concept of green zones and toensure the cohesiveness of ecologicaland soft traffic corridors as well as

improve landscaping and city planning.The biodiversity of Tallinn should beintroduced to both the residents ofTallinn and nationwide; also, Tallinnshould establish its internationalreputation as a biologically diverse city.Tallinns biodiversity provides theperfect opportunity for outdoor

education. The Aegna Nature Houseand Tallinn Botanic Garden work toraise nature awareness among theresidents of Tallinn, both adults andchildren; hobby centres offer variousnature educational courses and a newenvironmental education centre atTallinn Zoo is nearing completion. NGOEnvironmental Board, established inearly 2012, promotes environmentaleducation among different age groupsand stakeholders.


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Local transport is closely connected with the quality of local ambient airand noise pollution, sustainable land use, environmental management, climatechange and energy performance. Tallinn is preparing a sustainable mobility planfor the city, which will encompass all modes of mobility in the city. To date,Tallinn has implemented various measures to reduce the impact of automobiletraffic (including bus lanes, priority systems at junctions, free public transport).Tallinn is the first European capital to implement zero-fare public transport,effective from the beginning of 2013. According to electronic count data,the number of vehicles on the streets decreased by 14 per cent on average


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compared with the end of 2012. Tallinncontinues to introduce new cycle lanes.It is true that the conditions are not yetfavourable for cycling through the citycentre. On the other hand, bicycles are

not the transportation of choice for Tallinnresidents and too many people still preferprivate cars for everyday travel. TallinnEnvironmental Department annuallycelebrates World Car Free Day to changehabits and raise awareness; last year, theenvironmentally friendly mobility monthcampaign was launched to promote modesof mobility other than private car use.

Eco-innovation is currently thearea with the most potential. Eco-innovation is the introduction of a new orsignificantly improved product, serviceor manufacturing process by a companyor agency that benefits the environment.Therefore, eco-innovation encompasses

technological innovation, process inno-vation and business innovation. Tallinncould contribute to the development andintroduction of innovative solutions thatbenefit some or all of the 12 indicatorareas of European Green Capital. Tallinnhas great potential for developing andtesting eco-innovative solutions (smart

and online applications, environmentaltechnologies) that improve the urbanenvironment and quality of life. The ITsector is very strong throughout Estoniaand particularly in Tallinn (for example,virtually all services offered by the citycan be used paper free, e.g. over theInternet). However, this requires closecooperation between all parties or thecreation of a relevant network.Below is a short overview of the situationregarding other EGC indicators.


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Sustainable land use and development are managed in Tallinn throughestablishing environmental requirements for planning and construction and,if necessary, through strategic assessment of environmental impact. As aresult, environmental protection requirements and sustainable solutions fordevelopment and construction are determined, including the preservation andcreation of green areas, the development and implementation of solutions forthe sustainable use of energy, water (including stormwater) and other resources,and the preservation and creation of safe habitats for birds and animals.The advantage of being located on the windy coast is that the ambient airquality standards are rarely exceeded for the pollutants being measured.A strategic noise map has been prepared, identifying critical areas in whichresidents are subjected to high noise levels. The map will serve as a basis foran action plan for noise reduction.

Waste management is moving towards more efficient organised wastetransport. New waste plants are being constructed and additional packagecontainers are being put in place across the city in order to create a network


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of collection points that is as extensive as possible for different categories ofwaste. An advantage of Tallinn, compared with other Green Capitals, is therelatively small amount of waste generated per resident (less than 300 kg/year); however, greater emphasis should be placed on the more effective sortingof waste by category and on changing the habits of residents. For this purpose,

the waste awareness campaign Waste Wolf was launched; the campaign istargeted to all population groups.Tallinn is also at the forefront of low water consumption . However, more shouldbe done to reduce water loss due to leakages. Tallinn is constantly monitoring thestate of water bodies and long-term monitoring data indicate that the quality ofwater in Tallinn Bay as well as in the storm water outlets into the bay is graduallyimproving. The sewage treatment plant in Paljassaare, which has achieved arather high sewage treatment capacity, has also contributed towards the results.In 2012, Tallinn City Council adopted a document entitled Tallinn StormwaterStrategy up to 2030. The purpose of the strategy is to define objectives for andprovide guidelines on the sustainable treatment of stormwater.Tallinn joined the European Commissions initiative Covenant of Mayors and hastherefore committed to ensuring improved energy efficiency and reducing CO 2 emissions. The work towards these goals is coordinated, and is based on theaction plan for sustainable energy management by Tallinn Energy Agency, whichbegan its activity in January of this year.Environmental management Tallinn City Government and sub-agencies

are implementing the principles of environmentally sustainable office, using theprogramme of ecological support activities and support persons.

Closed Pskla waste centre


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Tallinn Environment Department 2013

Documents

Tallinn: towards the European Green Capital Award