The government is set to approve on Sunday a first-of-its-kind initiative meant to tackle the climate crisis.
The 100-step initiative, budgeted at a whooping NIS 15 billion, seeks to Implement the Environmental Protection Ministry’s strategy for transitioning Israel to a low-carbon economy - reliant on energy sources that produce low levels of greenhouse gas emissions, such as electricity and solar energy.
The initiative includes streamlining the country’s treatment facilities for organic matter, increasing energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse emissions in both industry and local authorities, switching to electric public transportation, and improving infrastructure for bicycles, among others.
This would be the first time that the global climate crisis will make it into the National Security Council’s multi-year situational assessment, usually reserved for security issues.
"This is not the first time the government has heard the word 'climate,” said Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg. “But it has gained prominence due to several new developments.”
“This is an orderly and budgeted government initiative, which begins in the fields of energy and transportation... and ends with the National Security Council recognizing the climate crisis for the first time in the country’s history,” Zandberg said.
The government's vote on the initiative will take place weeks before the UN climate summit in Glasgow, which Zandberg admits acted as a “catalyst’ in tabling the plan.
"Glasgow is considered our last chance to do something and not just wait for disasters to happen," the minister added.
Israel has recently signed a new water-sharing agreement with Jordan, with which the Jewish State is in extensive talks on a variety of environmental issues.
Israel along with two dozen other countries, has also joined a U.S.-EU-led effort to slash methane emissions - the biggest cause of climate change after carbon dioxide (CO2) - by 30% by the year 2030.