Green House Gas Emissions Policy for Israel
Overview
Temperature trends, ice melts and a range of meteorological indicators have transformed the issue of "global warming" from a theoretical possibility and academic argument to an urgent policy challenge for the human race. Israel was slow in formulating a national green house gas reduction policy, in part because the Kyoto convention designates the country as a "developing nation" with relatively modest expectations. As a result, the country's carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise, at a time when many nations, particularly in Europe have begun to restructure their economies to rein in these discharges. There is a consensus among environmentalists in Israel that the country's emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other green house gases contribute to the global loading and require attention.
In 2000 The Israel Ministry of Environment commissioned an economic feasibility analysis of different green house gas policy options from the Policy Center. The report, co-funded by the Revson Foundation was widely presented in workshops sponsored by the government. It recommends a series of policy tools, including a carbon tax for Israel, even though technically the country does not have to adopt a "carbon ceiling" under international conventions. The report was later integrated into the official policy of the Ministry of Environment and the inter-ministerial directors' program that recommended ratification of the Kyoto Accord. In February, 2004 the Israeli cabinet officially ratified the treaty, setting the stage for a concrete national response to climate change, and entered the treaty into force on March 15, 2004. The Ministry of Environment's official posture is to adopt a more ambitious program than that required under the accord, including several recommendations delineated in the report.
Products
Noam Gressel, Nir Becker, Doron Lavie, "Proposal for an Israeli Policy for Addressing the Global Climate Change," Ministry of Environment, 2001.