Green Tiger Leaps – driving green progress in Estonia
27th of August 2020 marked an important moment in the history of accelerating green progress in Estonia – by launching the Green Tiger. Let’s Do It Foundation has been a strategic supporter of the initiative, which brings together 40 Estonian companies and organisations. Green Tiger is seeking to become the face of sustainability issues in the country, paving the way for a green economy and driving a green leap in Estonia. Just as Tiger Leap drove developments in the technology sector, the ambition of Green Tiger is to show the way on green issues in Estonian society.
Eva Truuverk, the founder of Green Tiger and the director of the first World Clean-up Day in 2018, says that the clean-up operations inspired by Estonians which have taken place around the world have shown that it is not enough to merely deal with the consequences: prevention is required.
“The idea for Green Tiger sprang from Tiger Leap, appropriately enough,” Truuverk explained. “The aim was to instigate as big a change in the environmental sphere as Tiger Leap did in the technology sector.”
Mihkel Tammo, an entrepreneur and one of the lead figures in the Green Tiger movement, says that society lacks the pioneers it needs to bring about such a change. “Even though more and more companies and organisations are taking sustainability as an issue very seriously, there’s no coordinating force, experience and environmental knowledge steering it all,” he said. “Green Tiger’s already worked out what its role is, and what society expects in terms of how to bring about the change we want to see. It brings people together and provides them with a cooperation platform, synergy and the chance to try things out.”
In order to represent companies and submit proposals to policy-makers, Green Tiger has established a think-tank and an economics panel comprising of Estonian entrepreneurs. Their hope is to establish a vision of an economy based on future technologies that is environmentally friendly and the implementation of which is feasible for Estonia. The think-tank focuses primarily on the green economy.
For the practical implementation of changes, Green Tiger has also set up a pilot programme for organisations that are motivated to make the green leap. A total of 15 companies and institutions have joined the programme so far. In order to boost environmental awareness, the organisations taking part in the pilot programme will complete a 10-day course at the Green Tiger Academy during which they will learn about the circular economy and obtain the skills they need to drive change.
Background
The green economy is based on the idea of reorganising the economy so that the generation of waste is avoided and the use of non-renewable resources is restricted. The aim is not to stifle economic growth, but to strike a balance between economic activities, society and the natural environment.