There is a lack of confidence that environmental charges are paid according to actual resource use, due to shortcomings in environmental accounting and supervision. In four of the eight areas of environmental use companies have to account for environmental use on different grounds and environmental charges are not paid according to uniform rules, putting companies in an unequal position. This is due to the fact that there is no methodology in two areas of environmental use – special use of water and waste disposal – and significant shortcomings in methodology are evident in two areas – the mineral resource extraction charge for peat extraction and the emission of pollutants into the environment.
For example, in order to declare the amount of peat extracted, the extracted peat needs to be converted from cubic metres into tonnes, but the Ministry of Climate has not established a methodology for this, and in practice, companies use different calculation methodologies that give different results. As another example, while it is permitted to calculate the flow rate of water pumped from mines and cooling water from power plants and the amount of oil shale industry waste landfilled, the Ministry of Climate has not established a respective methodology for these areas.
Although data on environmental use is submitted to the Environmental Board, the Board does not usually verify whether the data are substantially correct and accurate. The audit found that the inspections of the Board are mainly focused on whether the information provided by the operator in returns and reports complies with the requirements of the environmental permit. If accounting is ensured via calculation, the Environmental Board does not usually verify the accuracy of the original data or carry out further analysis. For example, the information provided by companies on the quantities of waste landfilled is often not verified. In the few cases where data have been verified, the procedure is pending and the circumstances have not been clarified. Nor has the Environmental Board verified, in companies using the calculated method of water quantity assessment, the collection of the underlying data used in the calculations or the accuracy of the data
The state may be missing out on tens of millions of euros in pollution charges due to the Environmental Board permitting large amounts of waste to be recovered, when in fact the recovery has not been justified in many cases. For example, between 2021 and 2024, the Environmental Board accepted the recovery of nearly 8 million tonnes of mineral waste by Enefit Power AS for building a mound of up to 40 metres high underneath two solar parks in the industrial area of the Estonia Mine. The Board also accepted the recovery of nearly 5.9 million tonnes of mineral waste for the construction of a solar park in the case of another oil shale miner, although the construction of a solar park on the top of an artificial hill is an unusual practice. If waste recovery were to be subject to an environmental charge based on the pollution charge rates in force at the beginning of 2025, around €22.6 million would have been due for the mineral waste from oil shale used to build the solar parks. If waste is used for a purpose for which other materials would normally be used, it can in certain cases be considered as recovery and no environmental charge is payable on the waste recovered. However, if the same waste is landfilled, an environmental charge is subject to payment.
The National Audit Office recommended that the Minister of Energy and the Environment, in cooperation with the Director General of the Environmental Board, develop and establish methodologies or guidelines for environmental accounting in the areas of water use, waste disposal, emission of pollutants and peat extraction, and determine what information must be included in the application for an environmental permit and in the permit.
The Director General of the Environmental Board was recommended by the National Audit Office to carefully consider, when authorising the recovery of waste, whether the proposed activity meets the criteria for recovery.
Background
The objective of the audit was to identify whether methodologies have been developed to determine the environmental uses subject to environmental charges and whether the Environmental Board exercises supervision and conducts inspections as to whether the returns used as the basis for calculating environmental charges comply with the methodologies in force in the selected areas. In addition, the audit inspected whether the Environmental Board obligates offenders to compensate for damage in instances of environmental damage in line with the principles of environmental liability.
In 2024, €98.3 million were collected in environmental charges. Almost half of the charges came from mineral extraction (47.3 million). This was followed by waste disposal (24.4 million) and special use of water (13.8 million).
In 2024, 16,894 environmental charge returns were submitted. Of these, the Environmental Board selected 667 returns (nearly 4%) for an in-depth check. Most of the inspections (around 30%) concerned the extraction of construction minerals. Water and ambient air were the most inspected areas of the remainder.
Nearly 77 million tonnes of mineral waste from oil shale mining were recovered between 2011 and 2023. Between 2021 and 2023, more than 22 million tonnes were recovered, of which nearly 8 million tonnes were used to build solar park foundations.
