The State of Israel holds the gas reservoirs in the economic waters as a public trustee, and it has an obligation to manage and utilize them for the benefit of all of us.
In this case, this means replacing coal, which was the main source of energy and caused air pollution, morbidity and exacerbation of climate change. Gas – whose main component is methane and is actually a fossil fuel, which, like oil, comes from the decomposition of the remains of living organisms under the seafloor over millions of years – also has dire consequences: gas emits fewer pollutants that harm human health than coal, fuel oil and diesel. Therefore, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel viewed the gas reservoirs discovered in the previous decade as "transitional energy" that should be utilized for the interim period, until the Israeli economy establishes an infrastructure for clean energies.
The transition from coal to gas does improve air quality, but the use of gas emits greenhouse gases that exacerbate the climate crisis, and countries around the world are weaning themselves off it, as well as coal and oil. In addition, gas production requires complex infrastructures that harm marine nature. At the same time, renewable energies have become cheap and available, especially solar energy.
Therefore, in Israel in 2023, it is not right economically, environmentally and publicly to go out and search for and develop new gas reserves, and certainly not to export gas from Israeli reservoirs. The existing gas reserves must continue to be utilized for the needs of the Israeli economy.
Despite this, the Ministry of Energy is fueling the climate crisis, which already affects everyone living in Israel – fires, floods, intensifying heat waves, droughts and droughts that harm Israeli agriculture.
Instead of the State of Israel preparing for the consequences of the climate crisis and acting to reduce emissions, the State of Israel is going in the opposite direction, and right now the Ministry of Energy is promoting the marketing of more than a quarter of Israel's EEZ, some 6,000 square kilometers, for new gas and oil exploration. This is a decision that will accompany us for at least the next 30 years, and it is very unfortunate that it was made without a climate or economic examination. Instead of investing in clean energies, energy efficiency and innovation, the Ministry of Energy seeks to turn the Israeli Mediterranean Sea into a huge fuel plant that will exacerbate the climate crisis and destroy the sea. The Israeli public will pay the price, and the profits will be reaped by the gas corporations, most of which are foreign-owned.
So what do we do? First, they demand that the Minister of Energy freeze exploration of new gas reservoirs until climate considerations are examined; second, require public participation to present the long-term climate impacts; Third, the construction of the new platform and the gas pipeline for export, which are planned off the coast of Hof HaCarmel, are stopped. These are huge infrastructure projects and a dramatic climate decision, and the one who has to make this decision is the national planning body – the National Council for Planning and Building, and not the Haifa District Gas Licensing Authority.
We call on the Ministry of Energy and the Petroleum Council: expanding gas drilling, building the platform and laying a pipeline for export are a climate disaster and a blow to energy security. Israel's energy sector must be redesigned.
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