Estonia spent €821 million on environmental protection in 2023, a 13 per cent increase on the previous year and a 56 per cent rise since 2014, reflecting a sustained expansion in spending on environmental safeguards.
The figure, compiled by Statistics Estonia, the national statistics agency, covers both current and capital expenditure on measures aimed at preventing, reducing or eliminating pollution, after accounting for transfers from abroad.
Waste management accounted for the largest share of spending, absorbing €404 million, or nearly half of the total. Grete Luukas, a leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said this reflected the scale and complexity of waste collection and disposal, which affect most of the population and involve multiple stages to ensure proper handling. Waste management has been the largest category of environmental spending in every year for which comparable data are available.
Significant sums were also directed towards wastewater management and the protection of soil and water, which together amounted to €188 million, while €66 million was spent on protecting biodiversity and landscapes.
Investment played a notable role within the overall total. One third of environmental protection investment in 2023, or €56 million, was channelled into wastewater management and soil protection, including the construction, development and renovation of sewerage systems and other fixed assets. A further €34 million was invested in waste management infrastructure, with €19 million allocated to biodiversity and landscape protection.
