An International Green Governance conference will take place in Tallinn
On Thursday, November 16, the conference “Driving change: empowering sustainability through green governance” will take place at the Kultuurikatel as part of Tallinn’s Green Technology Week. The aim of the conference is to bring together cities around the Baltic Sea and beyond, companies, and experts to discuss environmentally friendly public procurement, as well as support for sustainable consumption and production.
The opening presentation of the conference, “Environmentally Friendly Public Procurement – an Excellent Political Tool for Achieving Green Governance,” will be given by Evelin Piirsalu, Senior Expert in Environmental Management at the Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn Centre. The presentation will address the potential, obstacles, and key issues of environmentally friendly green procurement – can procurements be green at all? “Public procurement significantly directs the economy, as the purchasing power of the entire public sector is enormous. When procurement is based on the principles of the circular economy and environmental sustainability, it has a major impact on the creation of sustainable business models and the development of products that consider the principles of the circular economy,” explained Piirsalu.
According to Kai Klein, a member of the board of the Estonian branch of the Baltic Environmental Forum, the public sector plays a key role in ensuring a safe and healthy environment. “When procurement takes hazardous chemicals into account, it motivates companies to produce safer products, influences the market to offer more sustainable solutions, and serves as an example to the private sector and consumers when making choices,” Klein explained the principles of green procurement.
Joosep Vimm, Deputy Mayor of Tallinn, will share the city’s experiences in transitioning to reusable tableware at the conference. “It has been equally important to create guidelines that public sector organizations, as clients, follow and to give companies the opportunity to test various systems at different events. I believe that the three major events this summer, where reusable tableware was used voluntarily, are proof that our approach has borne fruit. Tallinn is ready to share its best practices with organizers who will be obligated to follow suit from 2024,” noted Vimm.
At the conference, Deputy Mayor Joosep Vimm and Alexandra Wandel, Chair of the World Future Council, will announce the first NonHazCity competition, which recognizes buildings and construction processes by local governments that consider toxicity-free, circular, and climate-neutral practices.
The conference is organized by Tallinn – European Green Capital 2023, the Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn Centre, and the Baltic Environmental Forum, and the event is part of Tallinn’s Green Technology Week. The conference is co-financed by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme.
The event will be moderated by Heidrun Fammler from the Baltic Environmental Forum.
The working language of the conference is English.
You can familiarize yourself with the conference agenda here.
You can follow the conference broadcast here.
For more information:
Kai Klein
Board Member
Baltic Environmental Forum
kai.klein@bef.ee
+372 53 338 572