Environmental management

The environmental management programme is a part of the Environmental Programme and grants are applied for and projects implemented in accordance with the Environmental Programme rules and the relevant Regulation of the Minister of the Environment. The amount allocated for grants from the Environmental Programme varies from year to year, because it directly depends on the environmental fees received. The aim of the environmental management program is to support the development and implementation pollution prevention and technical and know-how measures.

The activities supported from the environmental management programme:
Pollution prevention:
1) development and introduction of technical measures aimed at heat, power or water economy in the fields of industry (excluding energy), construction, service, or daily life;
2) development and introduction of technical measures allowing economy of raw materials or accessories;
3) development and introduction of technical measures allowing reduction of waste generation in production;
4) development and introduction of integrated technical measures for reduction of pollutant uptake in air, water and soil;
5) development and introduction of environmental management systems or their components;
6) application of environmental standards;
7) research of the possibilities for application of latest environmental organisation methods, such as product life cycle analysis with respect to a product selected, combined product policy, and strategic environmental assessment;
8) development of flexible economic methods for improvement of the efficiency of pollution prevention activity.

Composition, publication and distribution of research and other information materials regarding the best possible equipment and cleaner production:
1) preparation of instructions for use based on the existing best available technique reference notes (BREF) of the European Union or parts thereof, adjustment of the instructions to specific conditions and publication of case studies;
2) preparation of best available technique reference notes or parts thereof meeting Estonia's needs in fields of shale industry and animal husbandry not covered by BREF;
3) development of modern IT solutions for the purposes of notification, reporting, processing of environmental permit applications, and issue of environmental permits and publication thereof in digital form;
4) co-financing of research complying with the priorities of European Union's Environment Action Programme and suitable in the context of Estonia.