Israel can be a world leader in innovation to combat global warming but may face a battle to survive as the planet heats up, the country’s environment minister has warned.
Speaking exclusively to the JC ahead of the COP26 global summit in Glasgow, Tamar Zandberg said: “The severity of the crisis especially in our region puts us in extreme danger.”
Citing a new report in which scientists suggests the temperature in Israel has been rising three times faster over the past 30 years, the Minister of Environmental Protection said: “The accelerated heating might put us in danger very, very soon. The exponential heating might even bring the collapse of the ecosystem, our water, our land reserves.”
Having come into office in June under the new government of prime minister Naftali Bennett, Ms Zandberg is driving a far-reaching plan for Israel’s commitment against climate change.
The recently introduced targets for the reduction in carbon emissions are 27 per cent by 2030 and 85 per cent by 2050, although the minister wants to see the “net zero” 100 per cent reduction that other countries – including the UK – have enshrined in law.
She said: “We are not there but we have a growing understanding that we should get there.”
While Israel has yet to adopt legislation for climate targets, the government is already putting in place an ambitious implementation plan to combat climate change, with 15 billion shekels (£3.4 billion) shared between 14 government ministries and particularly targeted towards innovation.
Ms Zandberg said: “We have a great international advantage as the start-up nation. We are already world leaders in some of the fields such as alternative protein for example, and we are a booming economy in the start-up market in energy storage and other fields of climate technology.
"That is something we can contribute to an extent that will exceed our size and scale.”
Israel is also a world leader in solar energy, and has recently adopted a raft of new environmental measures working with partner states in the region, including a joint fresh-water agreement signed with Jordan.
Ms Zanderg has recently held a series of meetings with her counterpart in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to work together on agriculture and water.
Rejecting the notion that Israel is too small to make a significant contribution in combatting climate change, she said: “We have international commitments.
“We are part of the international community and we have to take our part as small as it may be. It’s true the four big polluters are much bigger countries than us. But the fifth biggest polluter is the group of small countries, so each and every one of them should do its part otherwise it will be very hard to meet the target.”
Warning that climate change is a “question of national security”, she said: “No matter how much we affect the climate crisis we are affected by it, so we have to adapt and prepare ourselves.”
Ms Zandberg explained she has a deeply personal commitment to her role as minister. She said: “I asked – demanded – to serve in this ministry. I see myself as an environmental activist and that was one of the fields of my activity when I was a Knesset member and even before that as an activist, a city council member in Tel Aviv, this is the field that is very close to my heart.
“To be able to make the change for the next generation – this is the challenge for our generation, and this is what we will leave behind. It’s a question of survival and quality of life in all fields – the economy, in the way we build, in the way we shape our societies, for generations to come.
“In order to live better we have to live in peace with our neighbours and with the earth.”
