Cabinet okays NIS 2.2b. to reduce greenhouse gases
Efforts to reduce emissions will focus on green building, energy efficiency and clean technologies.
By EHUD ZION WALDOKS
The cabinet approved on Sunday a proposal to spend NIS 2.2 billion over the next 10 years to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.According to the decision, efforts to reduce emissions will focus on green building, energy efficiency and clean technologies.The cabinet approved the action plan and its budget on Sunday. An interministerial committee headed by Treasury director-general Haim Shani tasked with building the national program has yet to release its initial report explaining the rationale behind its focus on these topics. A coalition of environmental groups that was shown a draft of the report had a mixed response – with some praise and some criticisms.The lion’s share of the funding over the next two years, some NIS 315 million out of NIS 539m., was budgeted to the National Infrastructures Ministry for reducing electricity demand in the residential and industrial sectors, education, energy surveys and regulations. The ministry has already begun to implement its national plan for energy efficiency.The national plan would also contribute to reducing air pollution and encouraging the cleantech industry.At the UN Copenhagen Climate Summit in December 2009, Israel pledged to reduce emissions by 20 percent from a “business as usual” scenario by 2020.“The recent dry months, including the driest November in the history of the state, are a warning light to us all that the threat of climate change is no less menacing than the security threats that we face. I intend to act determinedly in this field. In a country that suffers from a severe water shortage, this is an existential struggle,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said at the cabinet meeting.The proposed decision was presented by Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan.