OECD slaps Israel with poor marks on environmental performance in new report
Country behind on climate targets, has increased subsidies for fossil fuels, has the lowest level of renewable energy in 38-member club, highest rate of threatened native mammals
A traffic jam at the entrance to a gas station in Jerusalem, on March 11, 2022. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)
Israel scored poorly on a range of environmental issues compared to other members of the 38-member Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, according to a report released by the group on Wednesday
Israel is behind on its targets to reduce global warming emissions, has increased subsidies for fossil fuels over the past decade, is failing to provide financial incentives to encourage waste recycling rather than burial, and still exposes its citizens to levels of pollution from particulate matter that are among the highest in the developed world, according to the OECD report.
The Environmental Performance Review, which follows a similar review in 2011, was carried out on behalf of the OECD by Germany and Greece and includes 24 recommendations, starting with the need for a climate law that has legally binding emissions reductions and renewable energy production targets.
Such binding targets are opposed by both the finance and energy ministries, holding up efforts to pass a climate law, including a current one by Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman.
Other recommendations include removing bureaucratic barriers for solar power installations and speeding up the integration of renewable sources into the electricity grid; developing a “coherent” strategy for lowering carbon emissions in transportation; shifting to a circular economy (in which one person’s waste becomes another’s resource); implementing a national biodiversity strategy and action plan to protect nature and open spaces outside of national parks and nature reserves, and integrating ecological corridors into planning; and improving monitoring and enforcement of environmental compliance — an issue highlighted in a recent State Comptroller report.
