Green capital title was just the beginning, Tallinn wants to stay at the forefront of green capitals in Europe

Tallinn was named the EU Green Capital 2023 due to its "systemic approach to green governance and interlinked strategic goals". Can you explain the development and implementation (policies, activities or events) of Tallinn’s strategic sustainability approach?

Once the destination is set, actions follow to get there. Tallinn 2035 strategy has managed to illustrate everything we believe is important to achieve. We want Tallinn to be a home for its residents and like a home to those that visit. Like in any household, all its members have different ideas and priorities that make it perfect for them. Our governance strategy is to make sure there is space for everything and also room to make mistakes and learn from them. One example of such systemic learning approach is the ´Test in Tallinn´ program that was launched in 2023. We want to be an attractive environment for (green) technology providers to test their solutions in city environment with an objective to gain experience and transform their products to global success using Tallinn as a testbed.

We focus on mobility, energy efficiency and renewable energy. Having our goals set makes it is easier also for other ideas to emerge and present themselves to the city government. That also makes it easier to attract partners. During the last year, we have extended our bike lane network, introduced more greenery in the city and places for people to relax, developed our pollinator highway and community gardens, piloted reuse system network in the city centre and tested reuse systems at large scale events, established organised electric scooter parking areas, started night bus service and many more such examples that in combination make the city a safe, convenient and attractive place to live, work at and visit. 

Tallinn’s ‘Grey to Green’ Waste Management Plan 2022-2026 aims to expand the separate collection of bio-waste, promote the collection and handling of textile waste, turn waste stations into recycling centres and encourage re-use. What specific actions have been taken to implement this plan?

There are two sides to improving our waste management in the city. First, making sure that all that can be separately collected and recycled, would have the necessary and convenient infrastructure in place for our residents. For this, we are expanding our door-to-door collection of biowaste and packaging waste and promoting home composting. Extra effort is put into communicating with the residents, providing information materials, designated biowaste collection baskets are distributed to help with the transition of new separate collection habits in the household. Also, we are doing a quarterly randomized check-ups of residual waste bins at households that have applied for home composting permit to ensure the quality of separate collection and consult them of ways to improve. Open and educative communication has been at the core of this transition. Our aim is not to fine or shame people for still learning. 

On the other hand, separate waste collection is only one side of the extensive changes. Our goal is to bring recycling centres closer to the communities, designing them into educational and community centres where waste reduction and reuse practices are prioritised. Everything we use should be built and made to last. By helping people make informed decisions about their consumption and engaging with producers to carry out their extended producer responsibility, we can get to a point where the city could really be a hub for circular economy. The first such centre is to be opened in 2024, the preparations for building the second one are in progress.

The city’s ambitious Tallinn 2035 development strategy includes public procurement as a process to foster sustainable governance. In what ways did Tallinn develop and implement green principles in its public procurement policies? How did you engage stakeholders in the reformation of the Law of Procurements?

Cities can support transition to more sustainable economy by making more sustainable choices as a customer. The most common qualification condition in this process are an environmental management system certificate and a proof of environmental aspects followed in the product or service (e.g. ecolabels). Tallinn like any other EU public authority should follow sustainability criteria in certain mandatory categories: indoor cleaning services, computers, monitors, tablets and smartphones, furniture, imaging equipment, consumables and print services and road transport. Aside from that, Tallinn has a designated position to assess the applicability of suggested green public procurement criteria to go beyond what is mandatory. Our goal is that by 2030 over half of our procurements include green public procurement criteria.

Today we are at about 20%. Perhaps the biggest challenges is ensuring that when setting environmentally motivated requirements, there would still be interested parties to apply while not compromising the integrity of the process. Having collaborating partners and being upfront about expectations helps to deal with this challenge. One successful example to illustrate this was the procurement of reusable tableware at the Youth Song and Dance Festival in 2023 where we could not be sure until the very last minute if there will be readiness on the market to go along with such large scale ambition. This is where target setting, and clarity of intentions really makes a difference. Our companies rely on the EU goal to transition away from single-use and are thus willing to invest into new business models. Needless to say, the catering for performers and guests at the Youth Song and Dance Festival was a success. There were options to choose from and everything worked out perfect. Reusable cups and dishes were used to serve nearly 133.000 people.

Can you describe a recent green public procurement initiative the city has initiated? How did this approach embrace the main themes of Tallinn’s Green Capital year (biodiversity, innovation, climate and sustainable governance)?

In 2023 Tallinn conducted several procurements for school food caterers where the condition is that at least 20% of the ingredients and products must be of organic origin and certified as such. It is up for the bidder to decide if the proportion is met in cost or volume. Additionally, there is a restriction to not use caged chicken eggs and that all food should be served on reusable dishes.

With your Tallinn 2035 development strategy, Waste Management Plan 2022-2026 and Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan 2030, Tallinn’s been described as a city “at the forefront of change”. What comes next? How do you plan to further progress the city’s sustainable governance and development?

The most ambitious governance document is currently under development and is planned to be adopted in 2025. That is the city´s circular economy strategy for the next 10 years. We are planning it to be comprehensive in a sense that it should integrate the principles and activities in the aforementioned documents but also highlight the role of circular economy as a medium to ensure we develop our city in a way that is rich in biodiversity and socially just.

Only by planning for abundance in ecosystems can we talk about the biome contributing not only to our well-being but also into our economy. Only by delivering access to public services to all the city´s residents, can we talk about efficient resource use. 

On a practical level, we will be sharing our experience in how Tallinn´s regulation to require only reuse in all public events has evolved and helping the sector develop. Since 1 June 2023, only reusables (cups, dishes, cutlery, etc) are allowed at events with under 30.000 visitors/day. Although eventually all events followed the rule this summer – largely thanks to communication with the organisers. The requirement will expand to all events in Estonia as of 1 January 2024. To monitor the impact of this measure, event organisers in Tallinn have to present the amount of separately collected waste generated after the event, with the waste totals being compared with results from previous years. We have seen major decrease in waste generation as a result of this regulation and hope to share this success with cities everywhere in Europe.