Estonia Environment - 2024

Environment - current issues

air polluted with sulfur dioxide from oil-shale burning power plants in northeast; however, the amounts of pollutants emitted into the air have fallen dramatically and the pollution load of wastewater at purification plants has decreased substantially due to improved technology and environmental monitoring; Estonia has more than 1,400 natural and manmade lakes, the smaller of which in agricultural areas need to be monitored; coastal seawater is polluted in certain locations

Environment - international agreements

party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Heavy Metals, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Climate

maritime; wet, moderate winters, cool summers

Land use

agricultural land: 22.2% (2018 est.)

arable land: 14.9% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 0.1% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 7.2% (2018 est.)

forest: 52.1% (2018 est.)

other: 25.7% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 69.8% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: -0.03% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Revenue from forest resources

0.85% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 6.35 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 16.59 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 0.99 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 473,000 tons (2015 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 117,020 tons (2015 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 24.7% (2015 est.)

Major lakes (area sq km)

fresh water lake(s): Lake Peipus - 4,300 sq km (shared with Russia); Lake Võrtsjärv - 270 sq km

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 60 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 790 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 4.5 million cubic meters (2017 est.)

Total renewable water resources

12.81 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)