"I dare say that, considering the scale of this thing, we can take January, February as well as March to calmly discuss it within this government," Michal commented at Thursday's government press conference.

"This is the completely normal course of things, and I believe the climate minister and government will certainly engage with business-owners to ensure a clear picture and that the impacts are understood," he added.

"My personal recommendation was to take things a bit slower and allow for longer discussions," the head of government noted. "And fortunately, I'm able to maintain things in this government to ensure we can deliberate on this calmly."

He emphasized that there is nothing wrong with a bit wider debate over the climate law, nor with its components and ambitions being argued over. "This is all totally normal when dealing with something of this magnitude," he said.

According to Michal, the new law should provide business-owners with clarity regarding the future.

"Of course no one on the entrepreneurial side wants anything to restrict free enterprise or somehow regulate us or make this market unreasonable compared to other countries," he acknowledged. "We're certainly not going to do that to ourselves – that much is clear. Our goal or framework must ensure that this economy fits within the limits of nature while operating in a completely reasonable manner."

Work on the law continues

According to Estonian Minister of Climate Yoko Alender (Reform), work on the climate law is continuing and there are still a few points that need to be improved by the Ministry of Climate. "The Ministry of Finance was against the idea of channeling at least 30 percent of CO2 funds into measures that promote the growth of the clean economy in the private sector," Alender said.

Alender stressed that it is important that the name of the Act is the Climate Resilient Economy Act. "Indeed, it is a framework law and I think that, as Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise pointed out in one of her presentations, the drafting of such a framework law could also raise the level of public debate on this issue. I think that this year-long process has really fulfilled this objective," Alender said.

According to Alender, the debate is giving rise to conflicting desires, with some populists are tempted to use it to divide society instead of seeking common ground.

"Our aim is to recognize that by committing the state via this law to reduce Estonia's emissions, to move towards clean economic growth, we are also giving businesses sufficient notice of the state's plans. In different areas, we have mapped out these trajectories together with businesses also. It is clear that the growth of the clean economy no provides an opportunity for development, and other approaches will not be able to compete," Alender said.

SDE want to raise ambitions

Minister of Regional Affairs and Agriculture Piret Hartman (SDE) said that her party would like to see the law be even more ambitious.

"One issue is really this question of ambition. We see that this ambition has been reduced now when compared to the original version," Hartman said.

However, this was countered by Alender, who disagreed with Hartman. "Piret Hartman mentioned that the ambition of the law has decreased compared to the original. However, this is not true. It has not been reduced," Alender said.

"We hope that the process will continue with the Social Democratic Party presenting their additional proposals to increase the ambition. That can then be discussed and brought back to the government. My wish is for the government to present the draft to the Riigikogu as soon as possible," Alender added.

Prime Minister Kristen Michal added that those who want to raise the ambition should engage in a debate with entrepreneurs specifically. "The government is still trying to find a solution so that our economy grows within the framework of clean and new energy production," Michal said.

Hartman then added a further issue is also important to consider. "For me, very reasonable targets have been agreed for the agricultural sector, but the question is how we also ensure a possible transition for this sector. That is the question that needs a slightly more reasoned and substantive approach at the moment," Hartman said.

A third issue, according to Hartman, relates to forestry and deforestation. "It's not this bill, it's the Forest Act, but it's also very clearly influencing the targets we set in the climate law. This is also an issue that definitely needs to be addressed. Because whether we want to maintain or increase deforestation, that means changes and more effort for the agricultural sector, which in turn will affect the competitiveness of agricultural and food producers," Hartman said.

SDE party leader Lauri Läänemets told ERR on Thursday that the climate law still needs a lot of changes before the SDE are satisfied with it.

Employers' criticism: climate law does not provide certainty

The council of the Estonian Employers' Confederation has decided not to support the Climate-Resilient Economy Act in its current form and instead recommends the state to abandon regulation of climate targets outlined in the planned framework legislation.

"Businesses support sustainable action and have been waiting for investment certainty and clarity, but they have not received this in the Climate-Resilient Economy Act," said Kai Realo, head of the council of the Confederation of Estonian Employers.

"I wouldn't say that there was anything in the employers' statement that surprised us. After all, this debate was going on at the time the climate law was being created and is still going on now," Michal said.

In response, Alender said that the sooner the state demonstrates its commitment to businesses, the more certainty they will have about where to invest and in what timeframe. "This is why laws like this are made," Alender said.

"We believe that our entire economy is moving in the direction of clean energy, and of having a smaller footprint, which will be a competitive advantage. So entrepreneurs also very strongly emphasized the need to make public procurement more sustainable, for example, when putting together this Climate-Resilient Economy Act."

"This is also something that we worked a lot on in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance to really ensure that sustainability criteria are taken into account. The logic for businesses is that if they can demonstrate on the domestic market that they are able offer their services or products with a small carbon footprint and in a sustainable way, then their advantage in export markets will be obvious," Alender said.

The minister added that the idea of the climate law is that all the investments that the state makes, as well as the investments that businesses make will lead Estonia in the right direction.

 "So that we do not waste our money. So that our children don't have to pay the price for short-term decisions taken in favor of the wring approach. When we looked at the fiscal impact of the law, we saw more of a risk from the potential overheating of the economy, because this law could create 30,000 new jobs," Alender said.

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