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According to the report of the Foresight Centre “The Impact of the Virus Crisis on the Estonian Economy. Scenarios up to 2030,” the virus crisis provides a unique opportunity for renewing the structure of the Estonian economy. In the economy, the crisis will accelerate the trend to automatise and digitise the processes and carry out the plans for innovation urgently.

Focus on ensuring self-sufficiency during the corona pandemic demonstrates the importance of local energy carriers for Estonia in the future, says the Foresight Centre report “The Impact of the Virus Crisis on the Estonian Economy. Scenarios up to 2030”, soon to be published. The green fuels era in a more distant future could turn out to favour Estonia much more than the fossil fuels era.

The Coronavirus epidemic is a catalyst that amplifies several long-term trends. About a year ago, I called attention to the fact that global economy is regionalising: in the future, an increasing part of international trade will take place within regional blocks, not between them. Long supply chains that stretch across the world, and the concentration of certain stages of production into certain countries – most notably, of course, China – do indeed help to enhance efficiency, but also increase the risks.