Agreement reached this weekend would actually entail increasing Israel’s greenhouse gas output by 2030, due to population growth
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday hailed the climate change accord reached Saturday in Paris as “an important agreement,” vowing that Israel would do its part to help halt global warming.
Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said Israel has an interest, like other countries, in slowing down global warming if not halting it altogether.
We will reduce greenhouse gas emissions on behalf of future generations,” said Netanyahu. “This is a complex international mission. It is built on the premise that large and small countries alike will not deviate from it. This demands international discipline, which is not easy, but for the good of humanity, I hope that it will be found.”
Environmental Protection Minister Avi Gabbay (Kulanu) said a budget of about $200 million has been devoted to meet climate targets. He said Israel would move toward renewable energy sources, cleaner technology and more public transport.
“We have a lot of steps to do and we are doing it now,” Gabbay said.
Israel as a small country is not among the world’s heaviest polluters, but it relies on fossil fuels for transport and to generate electricity.
According to a report in Yedioth Ahronoth Sunday, however, the agreement would actually entail an increase in Israel’s overall greenhouse gas emissions over the coming years. Israel agreed to reduce its emissions relative to its population, from 10.5 tons per person per day to 7.2 tons per person per day in 2030, the report said. But because of Israel’s projected population growth, the country’s emissions are predicted to grow by 14 percent in the next 15 years.
US President Barack Obama on Saturday praised the “strong” and historic” accord hammered out in Paris, which he said could mark “a turning point for the world” on climate change.
“The Paris agreement establishes the enduring framework the world needs to solve the climate crisis,” the US leader said at the White House. “It creates the mechanism, the architecture, for us to continually tackle this problem in an effective way.
Obama said the leaders from nearly 200 nations working in Paris “met the moment” in agreeing to what is being described as the most ambitious climate change agreement in history. He said the world can be more confident this planet is going to be in better shape for the next generation.
“Together we’ve shown what is possible when the world stands as one,” he said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also applauded the global pact to fight climate change that was adopted by nearly 200 nations in Paris.
Merkel said in a statement late Saturday that the climate agreement marks “the first time that the entire world community has obligated itself to act — to act in the battle against global climate change.”
The German chancellor said while there was still a lot of work ahead, the deal is a “sign of hope that we will manage to secure the life conditions of billions of people for the future.”
The Paris agreement adopted Saturday aims to keep global warming from rising another degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) between now and 2100, a key demand of poor countries ravaged by rising sea levels and other effects of climate change.
The deal finally struck on Saturday, a day into extra time, enshrines the goal to cap global warming at two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels — and at an even more ambitious 1.5°C if possible.
But the bad news is that humanity may already have used up almost 1°C of that allocation, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization warned last month.
And the emissions-curbing pledges submitted by 185 countries to give the agreement substance, even if fully honored, set the stage for a 3C warmer world.
The only hope lies in hard-fought provisions in the pact to encourage nations to ramp up their actions over time, and thus keep a 2°C goal in focus.
“This is the key thing to ensure that the actions get stronger and stronger so that we get to two degrees and below,” WWF climate expert Tasneem Essop told AFP.
2°C is the threshold at which politicians hope mankind can avoid the worst climate change impacts: dangerous storms, drought, sea-level rise, water wars, mass migration and the spread of diseases.
The agreement itself admits “with concern” that current national plans are not enough. As a result, it has built in a number of checks to try and keep the fast-closing 2°C window ajar.
Scattered over different sections of the 31-page document, the measures collectively make up what has become known as a “ratcheting up” mechanism.
It could play a vital part in a pact where emissions commitments are voluntary and there is no single timetable for achieving carbon reductions, which scientists point to as a gaping flaw.
According to the Climate Action Tracker (CAT), a tool developed by four climate research institutes, most country pledges are “inadequate” and “nearly all” governments need to enhance their 2025 or 2030 contributions.
As reported by The Times of Israel