Israel slammed for climate inaction
ISRAEL’S State Comptroller has issued a stinging report on the lack of action taken by successive Israeli governments over the past decade to prepare the country for the looming climate crisis.
The 659-page dossier documents how government decisions were repeatedly made and then neither properly budgeted for nor implemented. It shows how rising global warming gas emissions – more typical of a medium-sized country – have been hidden from view by per capita figures rather than absolute ones, and that the state’s target of having 30 per cent of energy coming from renewable sources by 2030 is the lowest in the OECD.
Describing the findings as a “warning light”, State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman told a media briefing that climate change threatened national security and geopolitics in light of predicted shortages of food and water in neighbouring states. It posed hazards to the economy and financial institutions, national infrastructure, public health, ecosystems and biodiversity, at-risk populations and more.
Despite all that, “Israel is one of the few countries in the world that does not yet operate on the basis of a budgeted and approved national deployment plan, even though it is in an area with increased risk, and is therefore even more exposed to the risks of climate change,” he said, referring to assessments that show the region warming faster than the global average.
“The State of Israel is not prepared for the climate crisis and there has not yet been a change of perception in Israeli policy on the issues. There are substantial gaps between the perception in Israel and in the world.”
The audit examined the actions of dozens of government ministries, state and public bodies and financial institutions. It also reviewed what other countries, international groups and professional organisations have been doing.
The audit found that Israeli governments had made decisions aimed at lowering greenhouse gas emissions following the country’s ratification of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1996, but did not take the steps necessary to implement them properly. Not only did inaction leave the country behind the curve of much of the rest of the developed world on reducing its carbon footprint, but it also cost the economy NIS 217 billion in potential savings.
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