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The Estonian clean technology sector has undergone profound change since the first cleantech accelerator was created nearly a decade ago. When the predecessor of the Estonian Cleantech Association was established in 2016, it aimed to nurture the dozen or so firms that existed. However, as of this year, the sector comprises more than 160 companies that have collectively raised approximately €1 billion to date.
With that growth has come a corresponding shift in outlook, according to Cleantech Estonia’s CEO Kädi Ristkok, there has been a widening of the scope of reasons for which clean technologies are used.
“We don’t just have cleantech as a solution for a cleaner economy,” Ristkok says. “Cleantech is needed increasingly for security, resilience and cost-efficiency.”
One doesn’t have to look far beyond Estonia to see Ristkok’s point. As part of its effort to weaken Russian energy resources, Ukraine has kept up a continuous attack on its oil refineries.
“Clean technologies will help us become more self-sufficient in terms of energy,” she says, “and with a local, decentralised production of renewable energy, sufficient power storage capacities, demand and grid management tools, our energy autonomy as well as affordability will be improved.”
However, this also means that building the underlying technologies, such as batteries, electrolysers, and wind turbines, which the whole world is increasingly adopting, is “a great economic opportunity,” she added.
Fostering a discussion
To foster a discussion around clean technology and European security, Cleantech Estonia plans to host a conference in Tallinn in March 2026. This will be co-organised with Enterprise Estonia, the Estonian Renewable Energy Association, and Cleantech for Baltics. Cleantech Estonia aims to engage a diverse range of stakeholders from industry and government, including those at the European level.
While the conference content is taking shape, Ristkok imagines that two trends will be discussed: making Europe globally competitive in the cleantech sector while ensuring its security in the process. She also believes that it’s a good time for Estonia to invite its European partners to discuss their common path to a clean and resilient economy.
“When you look at the security dilemma, it’s about energy security and material security,” remarks Ristkok. “When we buy fuels or critical minerals from outside Europe, we need to be aware that overreliance creates enormous risks, and we can avoid this by producing clean fuels and minerals ourselves.”
Ristkok sees Estonia as a natural centre for these discussions, given its deep bench of innovative companies and its position as a frontline border state. “The goal is to discuss how we can best implement the Clean Industrial Deal, announced in February, to turn it into the foundation of a successful clean and resilient economy,” she says. The EU is also working on a new multiannual financial framework for the years 2028 to 2034, which will shape the financial means that enable us to move towards these goals.
“We want to discuss these topics with the rest of our European partners,” says Ristkok.
Aiming for strategic autonomy
While the association was initially geared toward supporting the sector in its early days, it has now shifted its focus more toward advocacy, liaising with national governments and the European Commission to shape regulations and policies that encourage growth in cleantech. There is a focus on global brand building as well as developing industry and investment contacts worldwide.
Earlier this year, Cleantech for Baltics released a white paper focused explicitly on defence, security, and resilience. Calling cleantech “Europe’s first line of defence,” the 38-page document discusses how clean technology can increase European strategic autonomy through supplying decentralised energy systems, as well as supporting energy, food, and raw materials autonomy.
Estonia, Ristkok noted, has companies in its sector that address both challenges. One of these is Stargate Hydrogen, a Tallinn-based company that produces alkaline electrolysers capable of generating green hydrogen. There are other firms focused on producing critical raw materials. UP Catalyst, a University of Tartu spinout, can create graphite from carbon dioxide. The latter raised €2.3 million in a seed extension round last year. Because graphite is a key component of lithium-ion batteries, the firm is viewed as a strategic play for European clean technology.
“The geopolitical game is being played according to resources,” commented Ristkok. Investing in cleantech will “guarantee that we are not too dependent,” she added, noting that Estonia will have specific niches where it plays an important role. “We will need to have full value chains in Europe,” she added.
Time to scale
Achieving enhanced security and strategic autonomy will also require Europe to scale its cleantech sector. Ristkok views the current focus on defence and security, driven by the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War, as a catalyst that could help Europe scale up clean technology production.
In the white paper released earlier this year, Cleantech for Baltics similarly cautioned that without such a scale-up, “Europe risks losing the global cleantech race and failing to secure the technologies required for its strategic autonomy, resilience, and security.”
In the paper, the association also proposed ways to help European cleantech scale, such as simplifying regulatory procedures and harmonising standards across the EU, to enable companies to enter the market and gain approval for clean technology projects more easily and the deployment of technologies in different countries.
“The reason European cleantech is struggling to compete with global market leaders is that we don’t have scale,” said Ristkok. “Right now, we are putting that scale into defence. If the defence sector starts to buy more clean technologies, we can bring down costs,” she said. “That will make us more competitive and strategically autonomous.”
