European Conference on environmental management in Tallinn, Estonia

EKJA 5th anniversary conference 26th August 2008 

 
The conference "Environmental management – quo vadis?" took place in Tallinn on 26th August 2008. It was dedicated to the 5th anniversary of the Estonian Association for Environmental Management (EKJA). The association was founded in 2003 within the BALTEMA project, funded by the German Ministry of Environment, which aimed to raise the awareness of Baltic States companies in environmental management. SEI-Tallinn is one of the founders of the association and the secretariat of EKJA is located in SEI-Tallinn premises.
 
The conference focused on the past and future of corporate environmental management and what have been the best practices in Estonia. The welcome speech at the conference was given by the Minister of Environment, Mr Jaanus Tamkivi, who stressed the importance of cooperation between state institutions and companies to meet environmental targets, as well as the need for voluntary actions from both sides. SEI-Tallinn programme manager, Mr Harri Moora, gave an overview on the environmental management achievements in Estonia and several interesting presentations were given by company representatives. Among them was the small printing company Ecoprint, which was one of the 3 nominees for the European Business Award for the Environment 2008 in the environmental management category.
 
The second part of the day focused on European experience and some of the best environmental management approaches and practices identified in the Be-Smarter Network. Presentations were given by environmental management experts from Belgium, Germany, France and Hungary. The main conclusions of the conference were that the state should work out better initiatives and support mechanisms to encourage companies (especially SMEs) to improve their environmental performance on voluntary bases, e.g. favouring environmentally sound companies in public procurement. The public sector itself should demonstrate its commitment to sustainable development and implement environmental management systems in its organisations.
 
Conference presentations are available on EKJA website www.ekja.ee