HERON: Forward-looking socio-economic research on Energy Efficiency in EU countries

This fact sheet from the HERON project identifies socio-economic barriers to energy efficiency in Estonia's building and transport sectors and provides scenario projections for energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) targets between 2000 and 2030.

• Estonia faces several cross-cutting barriers to energy efficiency in buildings and transport, categorized as social, cultural, economic, educational, and institutional. Social barriers include a lack of willingness to pay for efficient alternatives, while cultural barriers include energy usage habits and the challenges of a cold climate. Economic barriers include low population density and dependence on private investment. Educational gaps include a lack of qualified specialists and public awareness, while institutional barriers involve poor cooperation between local municipalities and difficulties in reaching agreements between different administrative levels and stakeholders, such as the Ministry of the Environment and the MEAC.
• LEAP scenario projections for 2000-2030 indicate that the 2020 energy efficiency target set by the Estonian National Energy Development Plan 2030+ would not be met under a Business-As-Usual (BAU) scenario without additional policy measures. To meet EU 2030 energy efficiency and non-ETS GHG targets, a 'Household Measures' scenario would require the renovation of 40% of single-family houses and 50% of existing multi-family houses by 2030.
• While the Estonian transport sector is likely to meet the EU non-ETS GHG target by 2020 with current measures, the 2030 targets are considered challenging. Current energy demand trends in the transport sector exceed both National and EU baseline targets for 2020 and 2030, necessitating actions such as improving the fuel efficiency of new cars and integrating spatial planning with transport to reduce car dependency.

APA

MAVRAKIS, D., PETERSON, K., KIRSIMAA, K., JÜSSI, M., & Kallaste, T. (2017). HERON: Forward-looking socio-economic research on Energy Efficiency in EU countries. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/heron-fact-sheet-estonia-23032017.pdf

Chicago

MAVRAKIS, Dimitrios, Kaja PETERSON, Kerli KIRSIMAA, Mari JÜSSI, and Tiit Kallaste. HERON: Forward-looking socio-economic research on Energy Efficiency in EU countries. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2017. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/heron-fact-sheet-estonia-23032017.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=MAVRAKIS |first1=Dimitrios |last2=PETERSON |first2=Kaja |last3=KIRSIMAA |first3=Kerli |last4=JÜSSI |first4=Mari |last5=Kallaste |first5=Tiit |title=HERON: Forward-looking socio-economic research on Energy Efficiency in EU countries |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=March 2017 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/heron-fact-sheet-estonia-23032017.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{mavrakis2017heron, author = {MAVRAKIS, Dimitrios and PETERSON, Kaja and KIRSIMAA, Kerli and JÜSSI, Mari and Kallaste, Tiit}, title = {{HERON: Forward-looking socio-economic research on Energy Efficiency in EU countries}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2017}, month = mar, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/heron-fact-sheet-estonia-23032017.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }