The economy can and should develop in exactly the same way as a person: a child becomes a physical adult at the age of eighteen, no longer significantly grows in meters and kilos, but develops, becomes smarter. The same must happen with the economy. We do not need physical growth, but spiritual development, the economy must grow in the space of values and skills to use the Earth’s resources. We don’t have to look over our shoulders, we don’t have to blame anyone for destroying the world. To move forward you must first admit to yourself that the current model has no future, accept the situation, that is, clean your apron and look to the future.
A mature and balanced economy must be climate neutral (does not generate CO2), secondly it must be based on the principles of the circular economy (reuse of resources) and thirdly it must support the conservation of biodiversity.
By building on these three principles, companies can now make their business more future-proof. We have many good entrepreneurs who understand that the only way to survive is to maintain goals while safeguarding the natural environment.
At the same time, not all leaders and thinkers realized that we no longer live in the 90s or even in 2019. We already live today in a completely new reality, including in the economic sense. We no longer have cheap labor, materials imported from the East, or cheap electricity produced from oil shale. We just don’t want to admit it to ourselves yet. The elephant has been in the room for a long time, but the room is dark. Once again it is not our job to blame anyone, but to seek and find solutions together. Green Tiger’s attitude is unifying, our goal is to create the future together with entrepreneurs, not to complain and think on the sidelines.
Cautious steps in the right direction
Of course, not all concerns can be resolved at once. It’s like walking on the edge of a roof: if you start looking around too much, you’ll fall. But if you take one step after another in the right direction, you will be able to walk and survive.
Throughout the world – of course also in Estonia – the so-called circulatory sectors of the economy are clearly distinguishable. These are energy, buildings, land use, industry and transport, which all affect but also generate the majority of carbon emissions. These are the areas to pay attention to first, where you should walk carefully so as not to fall off the edge of the roof. We prepare road maps to reduce the environmental impacts on these issues.
At the same time, it is obvious that business with a truly flat line will not become sustainable: many entrepreneurs who are used to delivering results according to the model of a continuous economic plan are simply not ready for this yet, moreover, they are afraid to be. the first to attack their own sector – perhaps this will have a negative effect on economic results? Therefore, national guidelines will play a very important role in the changes. We have moved from the previous system “everyone manages themselves” to an economic space that operates on the basis of rules, nothing is inevitable, the role of the State is great, the importance of the whip and the biscuit will certainly not diminish.
Estonia could test the new model
Similar trends can be observed in many countries around the world. Here in Estonia we like to say that “oh Chinese, look how they pollute and waste, here we are good and small, but nothing depends on us”. In fact, in China it has already been understood that the environmental issue is important, saving resources is inevitable. They are already working very assiduously in this direction, even at the level of rules, the same is done everywhere in the world. Estonia’s big challenge, however, is the fact that we are a “fairly sized” country. We can test and establish future economic and social models, which can also be implemented by larger nations after us. I think that we in Estonia have a great opportunity to develop a nationally balanced economic model, put it into practice here and start introducing it to other countries, thus encouraging them to accelerate their development and set goals better. We at Green Tiger have set ourselves the goal of creating a balanced economic model for Estonia by the end of 2025.
Of course, political will and public support are needed to implement it. I really hope we can have both, life itself will bring us to that. If we consider the global megatrends, it is not at all plausible that here we will have an increasingly comfortable and easier life, on the contrary, we must take into account the great migratory pressure, the weather which becomes more and more unpredictable and brings great losses, the air it pollutes little by little. Concerns related to the environment are constantly increasing and this leads people to think about the future and appreciate the sustainable vision more. Estonia could be the butterfly whose flapping wings creates a storm of positive changes in the big picture.
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2024-01-02 09:20:00
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