‘The world needs Israeli solutions’: Climate innovation amid conflict

Despite being at war for the last year, Israel continues to play a key role in the fight against climate change. 

The threats of climate change aren’t waiting for the October 7 war to end, and neither is Israel’s climate change sector.

“We have continued to promote our response to climate change in Israel, both in terms of mitigation and adaptation. The fact that there is a war doesn’t mean that we have to decline our duties to continue preparing ourselves in Israel for the eventualities of climate change,” Gideon Behar, Israel’s Ambassador and Special Envoy for Climate Change and Sustainability, told The Press Service of Israel. 

“So, continuous work is going on internally in Israel in regard to preparation, adaptation, and also mitigation.”

Behar will be part of a 100-strong delegation of Cabinet ministers, scientists, businessmen and activists led by President Isaac Herzog attending the 29th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku.  

The gathering, which begins on Monday, aims to coordinate and advance efforts to combat climate change.

“The war has affected us in terms of regional cooperation with some of our neighbors. But still, we continue to do our utmost to work and to prepare the ground for regional cooperation,” Behar said.

One of the more pressing issues of regional cooperation is the Mediterranean’s sea level, which Behar said has been rising at approximately a half-centimeter per year.

“In the Mediterranean region, there are many low-lying areas and many coastal cities,” Behar explained. “That’s why we think that there must be a coordinated approach by all countries in the Mediterranean region to prepare ourselves to understand the magnitude of sea level rise and to coordinate the response,” explained. 

“So it makes only sense that the countries in the larger Mediterranean region will cooperate and learn from one another and share information and know how to adapt themselves to the challenges.”

Rising temperatures cause sea levels to rise through the melting of ice sheets and the thermal expansion of water. Water molecules spread out as they heat, which causes the volume of the ocean to increase.

“Sea level rise is accelerating and is considered to be one of the most significant challenges and threats of global warming.” Behar said. He noted that recent reports by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change indicate that “by the end of this century there will be an approximately one-meter rise in sea level rise. And there are also possibilities that it will be higher if we do not reduce enough emissions.”

Asked how President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House will affect the fight against climate change, Behar told TPS-IL, “The United States is a vital ally. We’ll continue to cooperate with the United States in every aspect.”

Israeli Innovation

“Israel is really a leading force in climate innovation and the world is in a greater and growing need for practical, applicable, and cheap solutions for the climate crisis, both to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also to create resilience and adaptation,” he stressed to TPS-IL. “We are a country that has to deal with lack of water, with hostile climate, with agriculture in the desert. And we have gained lots of experience, which is very, very important in the world today.”

One example is the country’s “circular” water economy, “which exists, as far as I know, only in Israel,” he told TPS-IL.

He explained that this circular water economy rests on the four pillars of water desalination, using the water in households, purifying the wastewater, and reusing the treated water in agriculture.

“We hold a world record in purifying wastewater. We are the only country that treats around 95% of its wastewater,” Behar said. “We hold another record in the prevention of water loss in water systems. We lose only a few percent of our water due to water leaks, whereas in most countries, water loss is a few dozens of percent. In some countries, they lose 50 percent of their water because of leaks.”

Israeli insights can benefit most of the world

“The northern Mediterranean is going through processes of desertification, and there is less water in the Balkans and in other countries in Europe. Or in the United States, which is going through a severe and accelerating water crisis. And India and in other places. So the world really needs Israeli ideas and Israeli solutions. And we are there, we are there to cooperate,” he said.

“I can promise you that the Israeli pavilion will be one of the most interesting ones in the COP because of the solutions, because of the innovation, because of the ideas, and because of the inspiration. People have to be inspired. This is a source of inspiration and hope.”

Israel’s biggest challenge, he said, is the country’s lack of renewable energy sources.

“We do not have hydroelectric power, we do not have strong winds or strong waves in the sea or thermal power. The only source of renewable energy in Israel is solar,” Behar said. “Now Israel is a very small country and  it will  not be a useful idea to cover all the open spaces with solar panels. We still need nature, we still need agricultural fields. So, efforts are being done today to see how we can, for instance, incorporate solar panels with agriculture. It is called photovoltaic. And some of the very interesting developments in this field are coming from Israel.”

Said Behar, “We have only one planet and that this planet has to be cherished, has to be taken care of, that we really have to rethink our behavior toward our planet.”