Estonia’s 2030 National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP 2030)

The Estonia’s 2030 National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP 2030) is a national cross-sectoral plan. NECP 2030 is a communication that has been drawn up to meet the requirement laid down in Article3(1) of Regulation (EU) No 2018/1999 on the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action (‘the Regulation’), according to which each Member State is to prepare and submit to the Commission its national Energy and Climate Plan every ten years.
The key objectives of NCEP 2030 are as follows: achievement of an 80% reduction in GHG emissions by 2050 (including 70% by 2030); In 1990, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were 40.4 Mt CO2ekv (excl. LULUCF14), in 2017 they were 20.9 Mt CO2ekv (incl. 14.7 Mt CO2ekv from the energy sector). The projected GHG emissions for 2030 when the existing and additional measures under the NCEP 2030 are applied are 10.7-12.5 Mt CO2ekv, (excl. LULUCF); achieve a 13% reduction of GHG emissions by 2030 compared to 2005 levels in the sectors falling under the scope of the Shared Effort Regulation (transport, small-scale power, agriculture, waste management, forestry, industry). According to the 2019 GHG inventory, in 2005 GHG emissions in the sectors covered by the Shared Effort Regulation totalled 6.3 Mt CO2ekv15, i.e. in 2030 emissions from the sector might total 5.5 Mt CO2ekv (the exact target for 2030 will become clear in 2020, when the national emission levels for the period 2021-2030 will be determined for the sectors under the Regulation); the share of renewable energy in total final consumption must be at least 42% by the year 2030: In 2030, production of renewable energy will be 16 TWh, which is 50% of final energy consumption, including 4.3 TWh renewable electricity (2018 = 1.8 TWh), renewable heat 11 TWh (2018 = 9.5 TWh) and transport 0.7 TWh (2018 = 0.3 TWh); in 2030, final energy consumption must remain at 32-33 TWh: Estonia’s economy is growing, so significant measures are needed to keep consumption at the same level. The general energy saving objective of 14.7 TWh for the period 2020-2030 applicable under Directive 2012/27/EU (the Energy Efficiency Directive) will help keep final energy consumption at the same level. Making primary energy consumption more efficient will help reduce energy consumption; reduction of primary energy consumption to 14% (compared to the peak of recent years): In the period 2020-2030, Estonia is capable of reducing primary energy consumption by steps such as modernising the shale industry; ensuring energy security by keeping the rate of dependency on imported energy as low as possible: Use of local fuels is kept as high as possible (including increasing the use of fuel-free energy sources), developing biomethane production and potential uses; meeting the minimum criteria for interconnectivity of electricity grids: Increasing capacity towards Latvia and synchronising the power grid with the Central European frequency band by 2025; use of research and development and innovation in measures to retain the competiveness of the economy: Implementation of the energy sector’s research and development programme will enable the application of measures using research and development results.