Israeli gov't pushes off debate, vote on climate bill – again

Israel's Ministerial Committee on Legislation once again delayed debating and voting on the climate bill Sunday, as the Finance and Energy ministries refused to accept the greenhouse gas reduction levels or the language of the originally agreed upon bill.

This is the second time in less than six weeks that the committee failed to advance the bill.

"We are looking to pass a practical law with appropriate goals and a commitment to a work plan," stressed Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman. "We are interested in charting Israel's path for dealing with the climate crisis and therefore insist that the law leads to real change that a real understanding in the government of the climate crisis we are facing."

The government pledged in its coalition agreement to pass a climate law that would commit it to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030. The current version of the bill already drops that percentage to 30%. Israel is committed to the United Nations to cut emissions by at least 27% by 2030. A recent report by the Environmental Protection Ministry showed that Israel is likely to reach only a 12% reduction in emissions. Nonetheless, the Energy and Finance ministries refuse even the 30% reduction.

Moreover, the Finance and Energy ministries demand that any reduction targets be non-binding, while the Environmental Protection Ministry insists that if they are not binding, then they are meaningless.

The Environmental Protection Ministry is refusing to soften the language of the bill any further, even amid the pushback by the other ministries, and hence it is stuck. The Environmental Protection Ministry said that the climate bill is meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, prepare Israel for the damages that could result from the climate crisis, and ensure Israel's competitive economy and development of its infrastructure.

"Better no climate law than a symbolic one," said climate activist Yosef Abramowitz.

The struggle in Israel to pass a climate bill to reduce emissions

The first climate bill was presented to the government by former environmental protection minister Gila Gamliel in 2021. Later, a team of professionals working under Gamliel's successor, Tamar Zandberg, improved that bill. That bill called for a 27% reduction in emissions. It passed the ministerial committee and even a first reading in the Knesset only days before the parliament fell and elections were called. 

The current Knesset could have picked up the bill where it left off and aimed to pass it in a second and third reading. Instead, it supposedly returned to the ministerial committee to initiate more ambitious targets. However, the vote on the bill continues to be pushed off amid infighting. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the country must pass a climate law by November when Israeli leaders head to Dubai for the United Nations environmental conference, COP 28.

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