Israel’s environment minister strives for regional coalition on climate change

PARIS — Israeli Environment Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg traveled to France March 29 for a three-day ministerial meeting in the OECD on climate change and plastic pollution. Playing a central role in the organization of the Paris conference, the minister intervened several times in the forum and presented Israel’s policies on a series on environmental topics.

On March 6, the environment protection ministry published its annual work plan for 2022, which addresses combating the climate crisis, rehabilitation and preservation of natural systems, the transition to a circular economy, improving the state of the environment in Arab society, and adapting to international standards. Zandberg’s goals are in sync with the environmental goals set by OECD member states.  

Israel’s foreign ministry is also engaged in promoting cooperation with other OECD countries on climate and the protection of nature. Ambassador Haim Assaraf, in charge of relations with multilateral organizations, has been championing these efforts for the past year and a half.

Leading environmentalist organization Adam Teva V’Din has been calling for a law that would frame national goals for combating climate change and coordinate the required actions by all the cabinet ministries. Based on their own experience and on international examples, the group has provided the ministry with ideas and concepts for an Israeli climate bill. Zandberg’s announcement this week that such a bill will soon be introduced was hailed by the green group.

“This is a first and groundbreaking step in Israel’s preparations for the climate crisis and for its consequences as far as the public is concerned,” said Amit Bracha, executive director of Adam Teva V’Din. His group, he said, will also submit “a private climate bill, which will include advanced CO2 emission-reduction targets, such as a 45% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and a compulsory 50% use of renewable energy. This should place Israel on a par with the developed countries in the world.”

Zandberg told Al-Monitor, “These days, we are working very intensively to prepare climate-change legislation. We are among the last OECD countries not to have such a law, so we are learning quite a lot from other OECD members how to approach it. … Too many countries depend on fossil energy sources in general, Russian fossil in particular. Obviously, the best way to cut short this dependency is not to replace one exporting country by another, but rather turn towards renewable energies.”

When she joined the government last June, Zandberg demanded that the coalition agreements included adopting a climate law, with goals for reducing CO2 emissions establishing a government mechanism to work on it. “Such a mechanism is needed because it’s a transversal topic, which concerns all government ministries,” she said. With the Knesset in recess, she hopes to have it approved within a few weeks by the cabinet and then by the Knesset by the end of the summer session.

That timetable is no coincidence. The minister wants Israel to arrive at the COP 27 climate summit this coming November in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, with legislation already enacted.

In advance of that meeting, the ministry is working on several initiatives for regional cooperation with countries such as Egypt, Jordan and Gulf nations. “We strive to cooperate with countries that share similar climates as Israel, desert, heat, dryness, how we can cooperate on advancing water solutions, nature-based solutions,” Zandberg said. “One possibility for regional cooperating is elaborating together climate hazards maps, to better anticipate and prepare ourselves for floods, bush fires, extreme climate phenomenon that influence both nature and human lives.”

The Jordanian foreign minister was not present at the March 29 regional Negev summit, but since then, Defense Minister Benny Gantz and President Isaac Herzog have both met with King Abdullah in Amman. For Zandberg, this clearly reflects the engagement of the Hashemite kingdom to cooperate in many fields with Israel, including the protection of the environment. 

“Relations with Jordan have improved tremendously since the current government was formed” in June 2021, she said. ” All this is pertinent to the preservation of the Jordan River, for instance.”

Cooperating with the Palestinians is another important goal for her. “There is now a new Palestinian environment minister, and I plan to meet with her soon,” Zandberg said. “We have some joint projects that are already advancing, mainly on waste treatment and on border-crossing pollution of rivers. … This is the way to coexistence. After all, pollution and climate risks are unaware of borders established by people.”