Green Transition as Viewed by Entrepreneurs in Ida-Viru County
Ida-Viru County has a major role to play in achieving Estonia’s green transition goals. As part of the Green Transition in Communities project funded by the Uni-versity of Tartu, Narva College studied the attitude of entrepreneurs in Ida-Viru County towards the green transition. The study was carried out in cooperation with the Ida-Viru Entreperenurship Centre (Ida-Virumaa Ettevõtluskeskus, IVEK).
The quantitative survey carried out in Autumn 2022 showed that around 1.5% of nearly 8,000 businesses and organisations in the IVEK data base took an active in-terest in the green transition. Out of the 120 businesses that responded to the sur-vey, 57% described the impact of the green transition on their business activities as strong or very strong. At the same time, only 6% of the respondents believed that the goals set by the Estonian government for transitioning to renewable energy would be met in full by 2035. 21% of the entrepreneurs considered their knowledge of the field sufficient.
What entrepreneurs in Ida-Viru County need the most today to make the green transition a success is better awareness and focused investments into research and technology.