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

The document outlines cross-cutting barriers to energy efficiency in Estonia, categorized as social, cultural, economic, educational, and institutional. It concludes that without additional policy measures, Estonia will fail to meet its 2020 energy efficiency target. While 2020 GHG targets for the non-ETS sector are likely to be met, achieving 2030 targets will require significant interventions, including the renovation of 40% of single-family and 50% of multi-family houses, as well as improved fuel efficiency and spatial planning in the transport sector.

• Estonia is unlikely to achieve its 2020 energy efficiency target, as set by the Estonian National Energy Development Plan 2030+, under a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario without additional policy measures.
• The EU non-ETS 2020 greenhouse gas (GHG) target is expected to be met under both BAU and energy efficiency scenarios, partly due to the 2005 baseline figures and existing legislation such as the requirement for nearly-zero energy houses starting in 2021.
• Meeting EU 2030 energy efficiency and non-ETS GHG targets requires substantial building renovations: specifically, 40% of single-family houses and 50% of existing multi-family houses must be renovated by 2030.
• While the transport sector may meet the EU non-ETS target by 2020, the 2030 targets are challenging because current energy demand trends exceed both National and EU baseline targets. Necessary actions include improving the fuel efficiency of new cars and integrating spatial planning to reduce car dependency.
• Energy efficiency progress in Estonia is hindered by various cross-cutting barriers, including social factors like willingness to pay, cultural habits, economic issues such as low population density and dependence on private investment, educational gaps in specialist knowledge, and institutional difficulties in inter-administrative cooperation.

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} }