Following the unprecedented crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Estonia’s recovery and resilience plan has responded to the urgent need to foster a strong recovery, while making Estonia’s economy and society more resilient and future ready. In response to the energy market disruption caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Commission launched the REPowerEU Plan. The Recovery and Resilience Facility is at the heart of its implementation and its funding. Under REPowerEU, EU countries are updating their recovery and resilience plans with new measures to save energy and diversify the EU’s energy supplies.
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Green transition
Focusing on green technologies and capacities - sustainable mobility, energy efficiency and renewables, climate change adaptation; circular economy; and biodiversity.
Policies for the next generation
Improving access to and the quality of general, vocational, and higher education; focusing on digital education, early childhood education and care; supporting youth employment.
Smart, sustainable, inclusive growth
promoting entrepreneurship, competitiveness, industrialisation; improving the business environment; fostering research, development and innovation, supporting small- and medium-sized businesses.
Digital transformation
Promoting the roll-out of very high-capacity networks, the digitalisation of public services, government processes, and businesses, in particular SMEs; developing basic and advanced digital skills; supporting digital-related R&D and the deployment of advanced technologies.
Social and territorial cohesion
Improving social and territorial infrastructure and services, including social protection and welfare systems, the inclusion of disadvantaged groups; supporting employment and skills development; creating high-quality, stable jobs.
Health and economic, social and institutional resilience
Improving the resilience, accessibility and quality of health and long-term care, including measures to advance their digitalisation; increasing the effectiveness of public administration systems.
The map exclusively serves information purposes and is not an exhaustive database of projects supported by the Recovery and Resilience Facility. It does not reflect the distribution of the projects funded by the Recovery and Resilience Facility across the European Union, nor across different geographical areas or sectors within EU Member States. The RRF funding amounts shown for measures are based on the initial cost estimates included in the recovery and resilience plans.
Furthermore, the projects showcased are without prejudice to any future assessment by the Commission in the context of verifying the satisfactory fulfilment of milestones and targets under Regulation (EU) 2021/241 establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
Country snapshot
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The country snapshot illustrates some of the most iconic and impactful projects included in the Estonian Recovery and Resilience Plan that will bring positive change for EU citizens, businesses and the EU at large.
The reforms and investments in Estonia’s plan are helping it become more sustainable, resilient and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities offered by the green and digital transitions. Following Council approval of Estonia’s plan on 29 October 2021, Estonia’s recovery and resilience plan was updated on 16 June 2023 also to introduce a reform and investments that address REPowerEU objectives.
*The plan is entirely financed by RRF grants.
**This value includes the transfer from the Brexit adjustment reserve requested by Estonia and Estonia’s REPowerEU grant.
- 28 investment streams and 17 reforms
- 59% of the plan will support climate objectives
- 24.1% of the plan will foster the digital transition.
The transformative impact of Estonia’s plan is the result of a strong combination of reforms and investment which address the country’s specific challenges. A key focus of the plan is on the green and digital transitions, with measures to improve energy efficiency and develop renewable energy; increase the sustainability of transport and mobility; support companies in the twin transition, in particular start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises; further digitalise public services; and increase the labour market relevance of the education and training system, notably as regards green and digital skills. The plan contains measures to improve the accessibility and resilience of the health system and envisages some improvements to the social safety net and access to social services. Equal opportunities and social and territorial cohesion are important cross-cutting themes in the plan.
All measures have to be implemented within a tight time frame, as the Regulation establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility requires all milestones and targets within the national plans to be completed by August 2026.
REPowerEU measures in Estonia’s plan
Estonia’s plan now includes one reform and two investments to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, in line with one of the REPowerEU Plan's objectives..
To finance this increased ambition, Estonia has asked for its share of the Brexit Adjustment Reserve to be transferred to the plan, amounting to €6.6 million. These funds would be added to Estonia's REPowerEU grant of €83.3 million.
Key measures for REPowerEU
Estonia proposed the following three measures under its REPowerEU chapter:
- Scaling-up an existing reform to accelerate the decarbonisation of the energy system and supporting the transition to renewable energy (EUR 31.8 million)
- Programme to increase the access of renewable energy production to the electricity distribution system (EUR 38 million);
- Increasing production and uptake of sustainable biogas and biomethane (EUR 20.2 million).
Estonia has also addressed the challenges to diversify imports of fossil fuels and to ensure sufficient capacity of interconnections without resources from the RRP. It managed to stop buying Russian gas by cooperating with Finland to put in place a floating storage and regasification unit and it continues its efforts to synchronise its electricity network with the EU electricity network.
Estonia has significant unused renewable energy potential (mainly wind) but deployment of projects has been slow, including due to administrative barriers.
The purpose of this reform is to facilitate the deployment of renewable energy sources, notably wind energy. The reform includes:
- the necessary legislative amendments to streamline planning, permitting and environmental impact assessment processes for wind energy projects,
- establishment of wind priority development areas on the basis of a technical report with a total estimated potential to produce 1000 MW;
- Support to local authorities to improve administrative procedures, including permitting, for wind energy development.
Green transition
In the area of climate and environmental policies, Estonia’s challenges include decarbonisation of its economy, in particular to reduce dependency on oil shale in electricity generation, energy efficiency of buildings and sustainability of transport. Green transition in the enterprises also needs to pick up to adhere to the principles of circular economy and implement new technologies to increase resource productivity.
Key measures for the green transition
- The plan supports the green transition through:
- investments into green hydrogen technologies (€50 million),
- Increasing the capacity to connect renewable energy installations, to produce renewable electricity in industrial sites, and piloting energy storage solutions (€55 million),
- the construction of the Rail Baltic viaducts (€31 million),
- setting up the Green Fund to support innovative green technologies (€90 million).
- Energy-efficient renovation of 3500 dwellings (€75 million)
- Boosting offshore wind parks development (€67 million)
- Connecting Rail Baltic to sea connections with the Nordic Countries via the construction of the Tallinn Old Port tram line (€36.5 million)
- Key reforms include:
- incentivising the production of renewable energy by removing administrative barriers and setting targets and actions to phase out oil shale in electricity production,
- strengthening advisory services and digital tools to promote energy efficient renovations,
- adopting a new strategic approach to mobility and implementing a common transport system for the Tallinn capital region.
The modified plan, including the REPowerEU chapter, has further strengthened the focus on the plan on the green transition, devoting 59% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives (up from 41.5% in the original plan).
A new tramline of 2.5 km connecting Tallinn Airport, Rail Baltic hub the city centre, the Old Port and the regional train station.
- Project locations
- Estonia
Digital transition
Digital challenges for Estonia include the digital transformation of enterprises, especially of small and medium-sized enterprises and in sectors where the potential of digital technologies has remained insufficiently exploited so far, and the provision of digital skills. While Estonia is a front-runner on eGovernment, another challenge is to further modernise public services, including by enhancing capacities to fight against money laundering.
Key measures for the digital transition
Estonia’s recovery and resilience plan supports the digital transition with investments and reforms in particular as regards:
- digitalising companies (€58 million), including small, medium and micro businesses;
- digitalising the public administration (€97 million), with measures aiming at upgrading digital government services drawing on the latest technologies, in order to improve their resilience, security, and efficiency, and reduce the administrative burden for both citizens and businesses;
- increasing connectivity (€24 million), with support to the deployment of very-high capacity networks in rural areas, which should contribute to the reduction of the digital divide;
- Strengthening the capacity to fight money laundering (€4 million).
A speech-based and text-based AI virtual assistant will be developed by end-2025 for the access to online public services.
- Project locations
- Estonia
Economic and social resilience
Key challenges for the Estonian economy include enhancing productivity growth; addressing skills shortages; increasing the resilience and accessibility of the health care system, improving the adequacy of the social safety net and of the provision of social services, including of long-term care.
Key measures in reinforcing economic and social resilience
- The plan reinforces economic and social resilience in particular as regards improving access to health care (€72 million) with measures aiming at:
- the construction of the TERVIKUM health centre in Viljandi,
- modernising e-health governance,
- strengthening of primary care,
- addressing health workforce shortages;
- It strengthens social resilience (€10 million) with measures aiming at incentivising youth employment through a combination of wage and training support, extending the duration of unemployment benefits in periods of high unemployment, introducing measures to reduce the gender pay gap, and improving the provision of long-term care, in particular for children with higher care needs;
- It reinforces the competitiveness of Estonian companies (€33 million), with measures aiming at developing regional and country-specific export strategies, and promoting Estonian companies at global events; developing innovative business centres in key foreign markets.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility would support with EUR 72 million the construction of a TERVICUM, a new, modern county health centre in the city of Viljandi, directly serving Viljandi County with 45,411 residents but indirectly the surrounding counties as well.
- Project locations
- Estonia
ANNUAL EVENTS
Annual events facilitate the exchange of views on the state of implementation of the Recovery and resilience plans, while ensuring close cooperation between all stakeholders and providing a platform to discuss interlinks between the Plans and other Union programmes.
More information on Annual events held in Estonia can be found here
EUROPEAN SEMESTER
Estonia’s plan is consistent with the challenges and priorities identified in the European Semester, the annual cycle of coordination and monitoring of each EU country’s economic policies. For a detailed explanation of the European Semester see the following link: The European Semester explained | European Commission (europa.eu)
National recovery and resilience website
Original Recovery and Resilience Plan (November 2021)
National recovery and resilience plan
Updated Recovery and Resilience Plan (June 2023)
Original Recovery and Resilience Plan (October 2021)
Documents
Commission Staff Working Document: Analysis of the recovery and resilience plan of Estonia
Press Material
Press release: "European Commission endorses Estonia's plan"
Factsheet: Estonia’s recovery and resilience plan
Questions and answers: European Commission endorses Estonia's plan
Further Information
Presentation to the Council of Estonia’s recovery and resilience plan
Summary of the assessment of the Estonian recovery and resilience plan
Updated Recovery and Resilience Plan (June 2023)
Documents
Press Material
Pre-financing
Press release: the European Commission disburses €126 million in pre-financing to Estonia
First Payment Request
Documents
Preliminary assessment of the first payment request of Estonia
Commission implementing Decision on the authorisation of the first disbursement to Estonia
Press material
Daily News: Commission receives Estonia’s first payment request
Second Payment Request
Documents
Press material