Around 10% of the hi-tech companies established in Israel over the past year develop climate technologies, according to the Climate Tech report published by the Israel Innovation Authority in collaboration with the PLANETech community.
However, despite the large number, most of the world’s largest global climatetech funds do not invest in Israel, the report found. The most significant challenges facing climate companies are securing funding, scaling growth and hurdling regulatory barriers.
Israel has 637 start-ups and growth companies developing climate technologies that focus on five main challenges: climate-smart agriculture, clean-energy systems, sustainable mobility and transportation, eco-efficient water infrastructure and alternative proteins. Most of the companies are less than seven years old and have fewer than 10 employees, the report said.
More than 560 private investment entities invested a total of $2.97 billion in Israeli climate companies between 2018 and 2020. The total investments in the first half of 2021 amounted to 40% of the total investments in the three previous years.
However, out of the 20 leading investment entities in Israeli climate technology, not one is dedicated to climate technologies, the report said. Moreover, so far, there is no dedicated climatetech investment group in Israel.
The Israeli government invested a total of $280 million in promoting climatetech research and development between 2018 and 2020, led by the Israel Innovation Authority.
Israeli technologies are found at the top of the list of G20 countries in the fields of cultivated meat, irrigation systems, precision agriculture and water desalination. Other areas were identified as significant untapped growth potential, including energy storage, new mobility solutions, alternative proteins and climate-smart agriculture.
“The climate crisis is the most significant global threat facing humanity,” Israel Innovation Authority CEO Dror Bin said in a press release. “While a number of activities are taking place at an international level, the eyes of the entire world are looking to the technology sector to produce innovative and groundbreaking solutions to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and deal with the consequences of the crisis.
“Climate innovation is not just an important stage in the war against the climate crisis, but also a significant business opportunity for the growth of an innovative, diverse and sustainable technological industry.”
PLANETech director Uriel Klar said: “The report we compiled positions Israel as a global leader in climatetech and throws a spotlight on the areas that have unique potential in Israel. Israeli entrepreneurs that will develop climate solutions and technologies will build a new generation of unicorns in Israel and will help in coping with the biggest challenge for humanity.
“The vision of PLANETech and its partners is to transform Israel into a global center for climate technologies that help reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in Israel and around the world.”
The Environment and Climate Change portal is produced in cooperation with the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The Jerusalem Post maintains all editorial decisions related to the content.
