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All European Union (EU) member states till 2020 had an obligatory target for energy efficiency. One of instruments for countries to achieve national energy efficiency goals is obligation for large companies (LC) and large electricity consumers (LEC) to implement certified energy management system or perform energy audit. In this study the Latvian case study of obligation for LC and LEC where examined. The analysis was carried out using a theory-based policy analysis method combined with evaluation criteria from the EU legislative assessment guidelines The Better Regulation Agenda – efficiency, effectiveness, relevance, coherence, added value, validity, complementarity, coordination, equality, sustainability and acceptability. To evaluate energy efficiency policy measures, it is also important to understand energy efficiency measures that will realistically meet the set company and national targets. AHP and TOPSIS analyzes were performed to evaluate these measures not only from energy efficiency but also from environmental, climate, engineering-technical, economic, and social aspects. The results allow us to assess the fate of existing policies and to draw conclusions on the improvements needed to meet energy efficiency and climate goals in the future.

Europe has a course to zero emissions by 2050, with a strong emphasis on energy sector. Due to climatic conditions in Latvia, district heating (DH) plays an important role in the energy sector. One of the solutions to achieve the set goals in DH is to introduce emission-free technology. Therefore, the popularity of installation of large-scale solar collector plants continues to increase in DH in Europe. The first large-scale solar collector field in the Baltic States was installed in 2019. Solar collector active area is 21 672 m2 with heat storage water tank 8000 m3. The article shows the first operation results of this system and evaluates influencing factors. The results of the analysis show that system productivity is mainly demanded by solar radiation, and the strongest correlation between these parameters were established in May. The highest correlation between ambient air temperature and produced thermal energy is reached when ambient air temperature is between 7 °C to 15 °C and production process has not been externally regulated. The temperature difference between flow and return temperatures of the heat carrier affect solar collector performance minimally and strong correlation was not observed.

The aim of presented study was to identify the most promising new business models which could help to reach climate and energy targets. ‘Business model’ means new opportunities (e.g. business for profit or non-profit community collaboration models) enabled by various technologies in energy domains, i.e., heat and power supply and demand as well as mobility. Based on scientific publications, nine most important technologies and 37 new business models, which could be among the most important for sustainable energy transition, were identified. Mapping of the new business models was done by looking at synergies between the technologies and the energy domains. Valuation of the business models is done by finding ‘expected impact’ with regards to reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which is obtained by multiplication of two factors: ‘potential’ and ‘feasibility’. The ’potential’ represents ability to reduce GHG emissions considering technical characteristics of technologies involved and scalability. The ‘feasibility’ indicates how realistic is implementation of the new business model in the near to mid-term. Experts in the field of energy and environmental engineering were interviewed to obtain scores for the ‘potential’ and the ‘feasibility’ for all business models. The results show that electric mobility is among the solutions with the largest expected impact for reduction of GHG emissions. Results of this valuation will be used to choose the most promising solutions for further analysis with system dynamic modelling.

Summarization: Biodiplomacy involves searching for a delicate balance and establishing a dialogue on the necessity to achieve international goals to develop the bioeconomy. The substantive basis of biodiplomacy is understanding bioresources, technological solutions for their extraction and use, indicators, and evaluation possibilities. The article is devoted to the establishment of a biodiplomatic institution. Such institutions will help young specialists in various economic sectors to develop competence approaches, acquire knowledge and build awareness that will make them competent to solve problems related to bioeconomy development and future, looking for efficient use of bio-resources and high value-added production. The aims and objectives of biodiplomatics are ambitious, which means that forms of study training must be attractive and multi-layered. Thus, the authors have analysed formative work assessment in the form of group work. With the help of a role game, the participation of different sections of society in developing the bioeconomy in agriculture, forestry and aquaculture was simulated. The article is devoted to the situation analysis, creating a model for building competencies, awareness, and knowledge of biodiplomats, and approbating it in the formative assessment work of the Riga Technical University bachelor’s study program in environmental engineering, organised as a role game. Presented on: Environmental and Climate Technologies

Implementation of bioeconomy has become an important topic on the national and global scale. Bioeconomy and its development is considered to be affected by many factors, for example, climate change, production, technology, waste and so on. Even more, there are linkages between these factors which, when discovered, could help to achieve one of the bioeconomy’s goals – sustainable use of bioresources. This paper analysis the interlinkage between two bioeconomy affecting factors – climate change and production. It was discovered that between two chosen factors there are seven common indicators: greenhouse gas emissions, investments in energy efficiency, energy consumption, waste generated, resource productivity, created wastewater, and use of freshwater. Regression method was used to conduct the strongest links between these common indicators. Results showed that the strongest links are between the indicators: resource productivity and GHG emissions, energy consumption and waste generated, and resource productivity and waste generated.