21 October

Today Estonia entered into a government-level co-operation memorandum with the Mistubishi Corporation aimed at finding greenhouse gas emissions reduction projects in Estonia that are of interest to both sides and implementing technologically advanced solutions in the energy sector.

The memorandum, signed by the Minister of Justice Kristen Michal and Mitsubishi Corporation senior vice president Akinobu Ogata, highlights energy efficient buildings, diversified generation of renewable energy, environmentally friendly transport, and supply of energy to smaller islands as possible areas of co-operation. A study will be conducted jointly to determine which projects in the above fields are most suitable for implementation of the technically advanced solutions. Mitsubishi will help find project financing from the Japanese market in the framework of sale of assigned amount units.

According to Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, enhanced co-operation with the Mitsubishi Corporation is a natural continuation of Estonia’s successful information technology development. “On the one hand, smart solutions require good infrastructure, but the experience and original ideas from our specialists are just as important in finding unconventional answers to conventional problems. We have proved that our small size is not an obstacle and Estonia is increasingly seen as the best environment for implementing pioneer solutions,” said Ansip.

Japan’s biggest conglomerate, the Mitsubishi Group sees Estonia as a good partner where people are ready to embrace innovative solutions. Ogata named a number of reasons for continuing co-operation with Estonia in an even more intensified form. “Estonia has a responsible and efficient government, which we saw in conducting the recent carbon credit transaction. The government has shown a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and in a very innovative way at that. You have the technical readiness to implement initiatives, which is underlined by the people’s high level of IT knowledge and awareness,” said Ogata. “Waste of energy in a society based on technically advanced energy solutions has been minimised. The electric car project helps us better understand the advantages of this mindset,” he added.

This March, the government decided to sell Mitsubishi its unused AAUs, in exchange for countrywide infrastructure for charging electric cars and a thousand electric cars. One part of the project involves an assistance scheme for purchasing electric cars where the state contributes up to 18,000 euros toward the price of such a vehicle.

The introduction of electric cars on such a large scale directly supports achieving Estonia’s target of 10% share of renewable energy in the transport sector by 2020.