The State Comptroller reveals that since his previous inspection in 2021, there has been almost no progress in preparing the State of Israel for climate change. Most of the findings of the previous audit were not addressed, and the bright spots are found almost exclusively in the Bank of Israel’s guidelines for the banking system and the preparedness plan woven into the security system. The Ministry of Finance is conspicuous by its absence from the preparedness plans, even though the consequences of the climate crisis on the state economy are far-reaching.
In 2021, the Treasury wrote to the Government Climate Directorate that “there is no urgency” in dealing with the issue. Even today, the Ministry of Finance refrains from allocating budgets to the issue as a whole, including to the directorate of government preparation for the climate issue, while ministries of finance in other developed countries are at the heart of the government processes related to this preparation.
The relevant government resolutions, 4079 and 1902, were passed without including budgetary aspects for formulating the preparation plans of the public bodies, and only included a budget for implementation. The budget for the formulation of a plan is required to use a consultant or experts regarding issues related to the areas of responsibility of public bodies, to perform an economic calculation of the cost-benefit of the damages and the actions to be promoted, to survey risks and the like. In this regard, the Director of Preparedness informed the Comptroller’s Office in May 2023: “No significant budgets have been allocated for the preparation of preparation plans” in most government ministries, due to a lack of personnel and a lack of “approaches” to engage in this.
The Ministry of Finance replied to the auditor: “In 2023, the Ministry of Environmental Protection was given standards, and the ministry prioritizes the distribution of standards among its various units, including the Climate Change Preparedness Directorate. Although the Ministry of Environmental Protection will not prioritize the climate sector in the allocation of standards, it will be given an additional dedicated standard For the Climate Resilience Division. The ministry was given NIS 200 million for the climate issue, of which the ministry allocated NIS 3 million to the administration’s activities in 2023-2025.”
All this, despite a series of damages that the auditor mentioned, caused by extreme weather events that indicate the need for systematic preparation for climate change.
The auditor found that only two government entities out of 29 entities that are committed to this have approved a climate crisis preparedness plan, and eight entities have not started preparing such a plan.
“This report again reveals, through detailed monitoring of the treatment status of more than 100 audit findings that came up in the previous report, a worrying picture,” the auditor wrote. “Most of the deficiencies were not corrected at all or were not corrected in full; the State of Israel was left with many statements that were basically incorporated into a long series of government decisions regarding its commitment to act in the climate field, but all this without leading processes and without taking actions that would allow for real progress. An improvement was registered in the fact of setting a national goal Absolute for reducing greenhouse gas emissions instead of a per capita target that was in the past.” The target set is low in international comparison. According to the auditor, the State of Israel has low targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and slow progress in realizing them.
The lowest reduction in developed countries
In 2020, Israel achieved the lowest reduction of the developed countries, at a rate of 2% compared to 2015 – a difference of five and a half to ten times in the rate of reduction of economy-wide emissions in the surveyed countries, which reduced between 11% and 20%. In 2021, Israel achieved a slight reduction of 1.5% in absolute emissions compared to 2015. However, in 2022, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions in Israel increased and reached 81.06 million tons of CO2e, which means an increase of about 3.5% from 2021. This is also reflected in the emissions figures per capita which increased during this period by about 1.5%. These data embody the erasure of the achievements in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Israel – an increase of almost 1% from 2015 – mainly due to an increase in emissions in the transportation sector, the industrial sector and the buildings sector. According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection’s forecast, the current rate of implementation of the government’s policy will achieve a reduction in emissions of only about 12% in 2030, 56% less than the set target of 27%, meaning emissions of 69.4 million tons of greenhouse gases instead of 58 million tons.
The failures are distributed across most government ministries, andthe report Count many of them. One of the main areas is the energy area, where many failures were found. Thus, by April 2023, only 1,460 public charging stations for electric vehicles were established with the support of the Ministry of Energy, out of a target of 2,500. The backlog in the field of clean electricity production is 1,500 megawatts of solar electricity to catch up with the state goal – 20% of electricity production in the economy in 2025, which currently stands at only about 12%, and is expected to reach only 19% in 2030 according to the current rate of progress. An exception to the scope of the sulfur in the coal purchased by the Electric Company was also found.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection: “The Ministry congratulates the auditor on another follow-up report on the climate crisis, a national challenge that affects health, the economy, security and society in Israel and around the world.
“In September 2023, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved the Climate Law. The bill promoted by the ministry sets a target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030 and net zeroing emissions by 2050. The law also establishes a mandatory framework for a government and public process for formulating and approving five-year implementation plans -Annuals and a series of monitoring and control measures that produce transparency and participation of the public and experts in the process and the economic implementation plans. The ministry believes that all partners in the government must do everything in their power to lead to the end of the legislation, and intends to lead to that.
“The ministry began promoting the preparedness plans in 55 local authorities, and the plans and pilots for urban forestry that are being promoted in 21 municipalities throughout the country, and today more than 55% of Israel’s residents live in a local authority where a climate change preparedness plan exists or is being prepared. The ministry also worked to publicize The model of Israel’s national risk map and supported the funding of studies and scholarships on climate change, reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. As of today, some of the government ministries and state bodies have completed writing their preparedness plans, as required by government decision 4079, and the rest are in various work procedures.”
The Ministry of Energy stated in its response to the auditor that actions it and the Electricity Authority are carrying out will achieve the goal of 30% renewable energies in 2030. including the regulation of the agro-voltaic field at the same time as the promotion of district programs in the districts of the planning bureaus; Promotion of the establishment of solar systems at IDF bases; promotion of regional projects such as the establishment of solar systems along the fence in the area surrounding Gaza; removal of the obligation to present Form 4 for the installation of a solar system on a roof and an increased rate for electricity produced in areas of demand; removal of the 20 thousand dunam area limitation for energies Solar systems placed by the National Council for Planning and Construction; dual-use regulation for solar installations in facilities such as fish ponds and parking lots in front of the planning director, etc. These plans were published in May 2022 in the “Road Map for Renewable Energies in 2030”.
