Israel, along with the rest of the world, is confronting an immediate health and economic crisis due to COVID-19, which is adding greater complexity to the low-carbon transition. The development of Israel’s long-term low emissions development strategy (LT-LEDS) has constituted an opportunity to align government action around the pursuit of a low-emissions future. This instrument is today, more than ever; key to support the alignment of near-term action with long-term goals. An integrated approach that addresses climate and well-being as part of a cohesive and coherent strategy is indispensable for making climate action more feasible, acceptable and cost effective as well as to avoiding further lock-in of emissions and inequalities. Developing sectoral policy packages in line with this approach – especially for sectors that are difficult or key to decarbonise - will be necessary. This will allow Israel to transform the economy, benefit from its capacity for technological innovation, and reach multiple well-being priorities while building its resilience towards future shocks, such as heat waves, droughts or other diseases.

The development of Israel’s long-term low emissions development strategy (LT-LEDS), a process led by the Ministry of Environmental Protection in Israel and supported by the OECD’s Environment Directorate, provides a unique opportunity to align efforts across the government to create a low-emissions future. So far, 17 countries have submitted LT-LEDS to the UNFCCC. Even though, Israel’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are small in global terms; emissions have been rising in recent years. If Israel continues on this trajectory, emissions would rise about 23.6% by 2030 (from 80.18 MtCO2e in 2015 to nearly 99.1 MtCO2e by 2030). Ministry of Environmental Protection (2018): Israel’s third national communication on climate change Putting in place policy packages in the near-termis essentialto achieve the deep emission reductions needed in the longer-term.

This chapter argues that by approaching climate change mitigation through a well-being lens, Israel can not only reduce its emissions, avoid locking in carbon-intensive technologies, but also improve the well-being of its citizens, both, now and in the future. A well-being lens can also help build the social and political support amongst stakeholders to accelerate action on climate. The chapter also brings a summary of the main findings and recommendations that result from following this approach in Israel’s electricity, residential and transport sectors.

This chapter discusses electricity-related policies for Israel to accelerate climate mitigation and deliver on broader well-being goals. The chapter first compares natural gas with renewable energy sources. It concludes that a larger focus on renewables avoids the risk of jeopardising deep decarbonisation in the long term while contributing to broader well-being goals, including better public health, jobs and economic development. Second, the chapter sets out a number of policies and recommendations to accelerate renewables uptake: pricing carbon and other externalities; supporting utility-scale renewables and distributed generation; enhancing power system flexibility to integrate renewables; improving energy efficiency.

This chapter discusses how to accelerate climate mitigation in the residential sector whilst delivering broader well-being goals, such as affordable housing. Building 1.5 million new homes by 2040 under the Strategic Housing Programme may resolve the shortage of affordable housing, but runs the risk of drastically increasing emissions across the lifecycle of a building and indirect emissions (e.g., transport). The first section sets out a number of policies and recommendations to decarbonise dwellings, such as green and circular public procurement, and financing mechanisms for retrofits of the existing building stock. The following section presents recommendations for decarbonising beyond the dwelling to foster smart urban planning especially given the projected population growth in Israel and increasing heat island effects due to climate change; in addition to ways to relieve the financial burden placed on municipalities, for example, via greater decentralisation and the creation of Metropolitan authorities.

This chapter discusses how Israel can both mitigate its (still increasing) emissions from the transport sector and improve its population’s well-being, notably by improving accessibility to opportunities (e.g., jobs, services, education, health facilities, etc.). After presenting the state of play, the chapter examines how improving taxation can limit emissions from private vehicles. It then highlights the need to improve road management: re-allocating and re-designing road space to promote accessibility and safety, and using tools (e.g. parking regulations, congestion charging) to use road space more efficiently. The chapter then examines how accessibility-based planning and appraisal frameworks can make public and active transport attractive alternatives to private cars and help fund infrastructure for these modes. It finally focuses on adapting governance and developing fully functional metropolitan transport authorities.

Israel suffers from a sizeable infrastructure deficit, stemming from chronic underinvestment that has been lingering for more than two decades (the orange line in ) (OECD, 2018[1]). Public investment in Israel only amounted to about 2% of GDP in 2016 while the OECD average tends to be around 3.5% to 4% (the blue line in ) (OECD, 2018[1]). As noted in the OECD’s Economic Survey of Israel (2018[1]), “Spending on public infrastructure, which recovered after 2007, was then cut again between 2013 and 2015 to bring the public deficit back under control.” Israel’s vulnerability and ability to adapt to climate change, as well as its mitigation capacity, depend on its choices about the nature and location of infrastructure today . Achieving a low-emission, climate-resilient development pathway requires a radical shift in Israel’s energy, transport and buildings infrastructure (addressed in the main chapters of this document). Israel’s underinvestment in infrastructure could have long lasting effects on Israel’s emissions profile in the future potentially jeopardising its ability to reach net-zero by 2050.