Israel is likely to reach only a 12% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2015 by 2030, despite committing to the UN to cut gases by 27%, according to a report by the Environmental Protection Ministry.
The report, published Monday, was submitted to the government and provided an overview of the country’s progress in reaching its climate goals. It highlighted the gaps that remain and outlined recommendations for closing them, stressing that if the government does not change direction and pass a climate law, it is expected to violate all of the obligations it took on.
The result, according to the report, would be “significant damage to Israel’s economy, health, energy security, environment and status in the world.”
“The report shows once again that the model of voluntary goals simply does not work,” charged Adam Teva v’Din CEO Amit Bracha. “The State of Israel has repeatedly failed to meet the embarrassing goals it has set for itself.”
Israel set the majority of its client goals in the summer of 2021 and submitted them to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It then tasked the Environmental Protection Ministry with monitoring and reporting on their implementation.
UN report's environmental findings
The report showed that only at the end of 2022 did Israel reach about 10% electricity generation from renewable energy – two years later than planned. The goal is to produce 20% of electricity from renewable energies by 2023 and 30% by 2025. However, the prediction is that this goal can only be reached with an urgent and ongoing regulatory and budgetary plan.
Other goals that are not expected to be met:
• The report predicted only a 19% reduction in the waste sector, compared to its goal of 47%.
• The report predicted only a 19% reduction in the waste sector, compared to its goal of 47%.
• In the transportation field, the goal was not to reduce emissions but to slow down their growth to 3.3% by 2030. Yet, the government is expected to moderate the increase in emissions by only 6.6%. The slowdown will be achieved through the investment in the electrification of private and public transposition, reducing travel through the development of infrastructure for mass transit systems and bicycle and walking paths.
Reducing emissions benefits the economy, the report noted. For example, the work done to reduce greenhouse gases in 2021 resulted in a 2.4 million tons of greenhouse gases reduction and economic savings of NIS 2.7 billion.
Two main steps are needed to close these gaps; the ministry recommended implementing a climate law and applying a carbon tax, which it said are the most efficient and economical tools for reducing emissions and maintaining the competitiveness of Israeli industry.
The Environmental Protection Ministry presented its version of the climate bill to the Ministerial Committee on Legislation on Sunday. However, due to extreme opposition by the Finance and Energy ministries, the committee pushed off voting on the bill and instead called on the ministries to engage in dialogue this week. As a result, the bill will be discussed again next week.
“Significant action is required to reduce Israel’s emissions,” said Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman. “This can only be achieved through a clear and binding climate law, where the goals are mandated by legislation.”
Other recommendations by the ministry included setting emissions targets for car importers so that the average level of emissions of new vehicles registered in Israel would gradually decrease until hitting a 95% reduction in emissions in 2030.
It also suggested that solar installations should be required on the roofs of every new building in the country, including residential buildings and parking lots.
The Environment and Climate Change portal is produced in cooperation with the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The Jerusalem Post maintains all editorial decisions related to the content.
