How greener living could change the future of Tallinn
Paid and presented by the City of Tallinn
On the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea lies Tallinn, the largest city in Estonia. When covered in snow during the winter months, it could resemble a winter wonderland postcard. In spring, the city comes alive as it blooms with lush and vibrant foliage.
Nature is treasured here, with 32% of the city made up of green spaces, including parks, forests, and gardens. For its citizens, the quality of life that comes from being surrounded by natural wonders is among the highest in the world.
Despite the old-town look of the city, this small capital is embracing modern technology in new ways to make it a greener and more sustainable place to live.
Tallinn aims to model how cities around the world could utilise some out-of-the-box thinking to create a more climate-conscious place for present and future generations.
“Ultimately, what drives me is being able to see the tangible results of our work and the positive impact we’re having on the citizens of Tallinn,” says Katarina Papp, an expert on circular economy working in the City of Tallinn’s strategic management team. “Being part of advancing sustainability in a meaningful way is incredibly rewarding, which is why this work is so important.”
A thriving city doesn’t appear overnight. Collaboration between official city departments and its citizens is what, Papp believes, has driven such positive change. “The creativity of Estonian people, their flexibility and openness to embracing change, is why we’ve become such a success.”
Krista Kampus, head of the EU and international relations for Tallinn and executive director of the Tallinn Green Capital 2023 team, credits its citizens for the city being crowned the green capital of Europe by the EU. This was decided by an international jury of experts, who assessed twelve key environmental indicators including air quality, noise, water, waste, eco-innovation, governance, and more sustainable land use.
Tallinn says that its efforts to become a more sustainable place to live were long-term, by showcasing its free public transport system, and a Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan, which includes strict efficiency requirements for buildings. Tallinn’s climate-neutral roadmap is planning for a 40% reduction in emissions by 2030.
The city has adopted the ambitious development strategy Tallinn 2035. The plan addresses efforts to reduce carbon emissions, increase climate resilience, boost innovation, the well-being of people, sustainable mobility, protect urban nature and biodiversity, accelerate the transition to a circular economy, and promote more sustainable energy and food production. The circular economy refers to an economic system in which the life cycle of products is extended through reuse, repair, and recycling. Tallinn has been working towards integrating the UN Sustainable Development Goals and making the city more environmentally conscious in many ways over time, including implementing measures such as stormwater management systems, creating linear parks, as well as improving the quality of urban space by remodelling of streets have been carried out.
Liina Kanarbik leads the City of Tallinn’s circular economy department and is passionate about the city’s future in more sustainable solutions. “Having clear criteria and standards in place is important, as it provides us a framework to ensure initiatives are being implemented as intended,” she said.
“My sincere hope is that we will be able to implement everything we have outlined in this ambitious plan successfully. If we can achieve that, then I will feel that my work here is done.”
Tallinn’s efforts to support and improve its biodiversity take many forms. One of which is the 14km-long “pollinator highway”, a green corridor that connects different parts of the city used by pollinators and other animals to move between green spaces. Another example is the Green Track project, which focuses on tactical urban interventions by increasing urban greenery, enhancing the quality of space, and testing different solutions before making long-term investments..
“One example of these interventions is the creation of the summer park or ‘parklet’ in the Old Town Square, which is very touristy, with a lot of restaurants, but local people don’t visit it often,” said Kampus. “We wanted to create more opportunities for local people to come and sit in the square without having to buy expensive food or drinks, and it was extremely well received. Green Tracks started in 2023 and is now one of the main elements of our tactical urban interventions approach”.
“We’ve found that cities and companies don’t necessarily have to wait for new regulations to start making progress,” Papp explains. “There are simple, actionable steps they can take on their own to make steps towards our goals. As a city, we must lead by example and demonstrate what’s possible through our initiatives.”
The emphasis on implementing a multi-faceted circular economy can be seen in the range of solutions Tallinn has come up with to improve its citizens’ environment. Implementing reusable systems, including something as simple as banning single-use plates at public events, enables the city’s circular economy to grow and thrive.
Looking beyond their borders and partnering with other European cities is also a part of their problem-solving in issues relating to sustainability. Andres Maremäe is the project manager for Tallinn’s Digital Twin project, where the city has partnered with Helsinki to utilise a variety of technologies for data capture, including laser scanning, satellite data, mobile data, and IoT sensors. Rather than developing new technologies, the focus is on leveraging existing ones.
“This project means we can make long-term decisions based on data and knowledge that we have today, instead of decision makers using their gut feeling or trying to predict based on their experiences,” he explains. “The advancements in AI and machine learning, which enable real-time monitoring and new capabilities in city management, are so exciting for us.”
The environmental impact of AI, however, is something Tallinn may have to consider in the near future. AI’s energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions are significant, with more sophisticated models, such as large language models, driving a significant increase in energy use.
Only two years in, the team behind the project is learning what can and cannot be helped with technology and how nature demands more fluidity and space to adapt. “The challenge we’ve had here is the green areas. We didn’t understand right at the beginning of the project that digitising human-built environments is simpler because they have very concrete shapes,” he explained. “But then you have the plants and trees. Nature is so much more creative, for example, one species of plant could present in multiple different ways, so you have to be adaptable in your vision.”
The “digital savvy” nature of Tallinn’s people, Kampus believes, is one of the keys to success for the city. Pragmatism in implementing strategic plans, integrating sustainable development goals into everything we do, “nudging” sustainability mindset within the city organization, piloting in utilising new solutions and technologies, to achieve environmental goals is key, she believes, to their trajectory. But there is also room for improvement.
“We need to be much more agile in adopting innovative solutions – and by that, I don`t mean only technological innovation, but also social and governance innovation. To achieve this, we must continue strengthening collaboration and co-creation with the private sector, universities, and local communities. We also have to ensure that innovation directly benefits the people of Tallinn,“ she says. “And one more thing – there are many great examples and good practices in Tallinn that are worth sharing, but we are not very good at telling our success stories – and that needs to change as well.”
The city is also utilising the work of local entrepreneurs to learn more about how new technology can advance its services. Exploring new avenues for innovation, such as artificial intelligence and existing technology, has seen Tallinn join many other European cities in the push to nurture new talent. The Tallinnovation programme offers €100,000 (£82,000) annually to startups for prototype testing, and the TestinTallinn programme supports international companies without funding, providing valuable resources and data.
“Offering space for testing talent has been one of the most successful innovation programmes we have had so far,” says Mark-Emil Talivere, an innovation expert at Tallinn Strategic Management Office. From finding better solutions to improve city services to nurturing startups and new talent that have the potential to help Tallinn reach its goals, Talivere’s role involves finding solutions that enable and support Tallinn’s innovation initiatives through more sustainability and economic development. “We’ve already had companies who test with us from 13 different countries so far from the US to Australia, because we can offer them an agile testing ground for their technology and help them to understand how we conduct business in Europe.”
This collaborative project sees Tallinn’s community embracing technology, with a high percentage of city services being digitised. The goal, Talivere stresses, is to procure innovation in a way that doesn’t kill innovation’s essence while remaining conscious of the impact on the environment.
“We’re putting effort into focusing on making change through innovation by nurturing companies that align with our city and our citizens’ needs, with sustainability and the environment as the biggest priority,” he explains. “It’s a big challenge, but we’re already making huge steps forward.”
This content was produced for City of Tallinn by BBC StoryWorks as part of the Transforming Cities series presented by C40 Cities. Learn more about Transforming Cities: www.transformingcitiesseries.com