Activities that ensure the internal and external security of the country are the top priority of both the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Defence, where the continuity of essential services and capabilities must be maintained around the clock. How to achieve a greener future while also preserving internal and external security was the subject of a study that looked at the environmental footprint of the defence and security sector as well as the potential mitigation measures.
For the first time in Estonia, a study was conducted to collect data on the consumption of electricity, heat, fuel and water, and waste generation in 2019, in the areas of governance of the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of the Interior (excluding security agencies). To determine the extent of the environmental footprint, the carbon footprint was calculated and waste and water footprints were measured.
The study found that the carbon footprint of the Ministry of the Interior is 27,043 tCO2eq and that of the Ministry of Defence is 73,575 tCO2eq. Electricity consumption accounted for about 50% of the carbon footprint in the area of government of both ministries, followed by motor fuel consumption (nearly 40%) and thermal energy.
Energy consumption related to real estate comprises a large part of the footprint of the Ministry of the Interior. Riigi Kinnisvara AS owns the buildings housing the Ministry of the Interior and is planning a phased transition to green energy in the coming years. A major renewable energy procurement will be launched as early as autumn 2022, which will help the Ministry of the Interior reduce its electricity footprint. The aim is to achieve CO2 neutral electricity consumption without significant cost increases within five years.
Half of the carbon footprint of the Ministry of Defence comes from electricity consumption, followed by motor vehicle fuel. Deliberate steps have been taken to reduce the carbon footprint: for example, the electricity purchased by the Ministry of Defence in 2021 and 2022 will be green. The Ministry has also begun to actively adopt the use of solar energy. In order to reduce the impact of fuel on its environmental footprint, the vehicle fleet of the Centre for Defence Investment (ECDI) and the Defence Resources Agency are already predominantly hybrid-powered. These actions have already reduced the carbon footprint of the area of governance by around half, compared to the results of the study.
When procuring vehicles, the Ministry of the Interior gives priority to low-carbon vehicles and takes into account the total life-cycle costs of the vehicle. To the extent possible, they test and procure zero-emission vehicles. To explore ways to reduce the carbon footprint of transport, the ministry will introduce the first all-electric police patrol vehicle as a pilot project in 2022 and prepare for the procurement of an environmentally-friendly rescue vehicle.
Piret Lilleväli, Undersecretary at the Ministry of the Interior, said that everyone can contribute to reducing the environmental footprint. To this end, awareness of environmental issues will be raised among employees. More attention will be paid to digital behaviour and digital cleaning. In addition, a pivot towards greener procurements is underway. “At the end of 2023, the Ministry of the Interior will move from energy-intensive offices in the Old Town to a building shared by different ministries, which will significantly reduce energy consumption. In the new space, we will be using 50% fewer square metres than today and, as a result, we will be able to significantly increase our energy savings. We have drastically reduced the generation of municipal waste through the sorting of waste, we have switched to sustainable electricity solutions, reduced office cleaning periods and stopped using bottled water in favour of drinking tap water. In addition to this, we want to transit to green energy for electricity consumption within the area of governance,” said Lilleväli.
“The defence sector and our area of governance is large, and our footprint is bigger than that of many large companies or small towns in Estonia – we sense our responsibility and we are striving to contribute as much as possible to reducing our environmental footprint. This is why the Ministry of Defence has already been dealing with environmental issues for 20 years, so thinking about environmental protection is a daily activity in the field of defence,” said Tiina Uudeberg, Undersecretary for Defence Planning at the Ministry of Defence.
The Ministry of Defence was the only ministry to have an environment and climate policy in place at the beginning of 2021. To help make environmentally conscious choices, last year the Ministry of Defence set up an environmentally friendly procurement strategy to assess the implementation of green procurement criteria. “One of the key public and national responsibilities of the environment sector is to ensure that the impact of defence-related activities does not pose a threat to our people or the environment. To this end, the quality of ground and surface water in training areas has been monitored for years, its compliance with requirements has been assessed, and any changes have been reacted to promptly,” added the Undersecretary for Defence Planning at the Ministry of Defence. “So, by measuring and setting targets for the environmental footprint of our area of government, we are working to conserve resources and raise environmental awareness. However, the most important thing is to raise the environmental awareness of each individual, as we all have an impact on our environmental footprint,” Uudeberg said.
Significant reductions in the carbon footprint will require substantial spending on the adoption of new technological solutions in the future or on more environmentally friendly electricity and fuel consumption. A model was developed as the result of the study, allowing for the measurement of the impact of changes made by both ministries in the coming years and for a comparison with previous years.
The models developed within the framework of the study can also be adapted to calculate the environmental footprint of other public sector fields and to develop measures and recommendations.
A study on the environmental footprint of the defence and security sector and ways to reduce it was commissioned by the Government Office and carried out in 2020-2021 based on data from 2019. The aim of the study was to identify the extent of the environmental footprints of the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of the Interior, to develop a methodology for assessing the environmental footprint of the defence and security sector, and to make proposals for reducing the environmental footprint, taking into account the specificities of the military defence and homeland security sectors.
The study was commissioned by the Government Office of the Republic of Estonia and funded through the European Social Fund with the support of the measure “Developing the quality of policy making”, the cost of the study was 78,755 euros. The study was carried out by the International Centre for Defence and the Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn Centre.
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