Environment at a Glance Indicators

Israel

This country profile features selected environmental indicators from the OECD Core Set, building on harmonised datasets available on OECD Data Explorer. The indicators reflect major environmental issues, including climate, air quality, freshwater resources, waste and the circular economy, biodiversity, and selected policy responses to these issues. Differences with national data sources can occur due to delays in data treatment and publication, or due to different national definitions and measurement methods. The OECD is working with countries and other international organisations to further improve the indicators and the underlying data. The text of this country profile is drawn from the OECD Environmental Performance Review of Israel 2023.

Context

Israel is a small, open economy, densely populated and highly urbanised. Economic and population growth are driving increased land, energy and water use and transport demand. Population increased by almost 50% between 2000 and 2021, and since 2005, GDP has been growing much faster than the OECD average, and has only slightly contracted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. GDP per person has been increasing as well, getting closer to the OECD average. The country has a sizeable export-based high-tech sector, specialised in computer hardware and software, medical technologies and pharmaceuticals.

Israel is characterised by desert conditions in the south and snow-capped mountains in the north. The country has a small coastline on the Red Sea in the south. Water scarcity is a major concern, leading Israel to pioneer the development of a range of water-related technologies. Land ownership is mostly public, a unique feature among OECD countries; land is centrally managed and the property market primarily consists of private trading in long-term leases.

Despite its relatively small size, Israel has an exceptionally high degree of biological diversity. It is at the crossroads of the migratory routes of birds and marine species. The country has limited natural resources. These include copper, phosphates, bromide, potash, clay, sand, sulfur, asphalt, and manganese. The discovery of off-shore natural gas reserves in the early 2000s has had a major impact on Israel’s fuel mix, moderating its dependence on imported fuels.

Basic statistics

Climate change

Israel’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have increased since 2000, on the back of population and economic growth. Emissions peaked in 2012, followed by a gradual decoupling, due to a less carbon intensive energy mix and energy efficiency improvements, reinforced by a growing share of low energy-intensity/high-GDP activities (e.g. in high tech). CO₂ emissions from fuel combustion per person are lower than the OECD average, but above the OECD Europe average. This applies to production-based and to demand-based CO₂ emissions (footprint) that account for carbon emitted in imports to satisfy domestic final demand.

Energy industries account for nearly half of total GHG emissions in Israel. Emissions from electricity generation declined between 2012 and 2018 as a result of the fuel switch from coal to natural gas. However, demand for electricity is growing, driven by population growth, the growing electrification of end-uses (e.g. electric vehicles) and the need for desalination of water. The demand has been supported by one of the lowest residential electricity retail rates among OECD countries. Transport is the second and a growing contributor to total GHG emissions, due to a high dependency on private cars, mostly powered by fossil fuels. Emissions from the landfilling of waste make up about 8% of total emissions and have doubled since 2000.

Energy mix

Israel relies almost entirely on fossil fuels for it energy supply; natural gas, followed closely by oil dominate the energy mix. The use of natural gas has expanded substantially on the back of the discovery of large gas fields off Israel’s coast in the early 2000s, which helped moderating the country dependence on imported fuels. Coal is being progressively phased out; the goal is to eliminate it from electricity generation by 2026.

The country’s share of renewables in the energy supply mix and in electricity production is the second smallest in the OECD.

Air quality

Emissions of major air pollutants have been decoupled from economic growth. This is mainly due to the reduced combustion of coal for electricity generation. Total emissions of non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) are not monitored anymore in Israel since 2012. The implementation of the 2015 National Plan for Reducing Air Pollution and Environmental Risks in Haifa Bay, a port area with a high concentration of petrochemical industries, led to a 56% reduction in local industrial emissions of NMVOCs. Still, Haifa Bay remains an air pollution hotspot, especially for such NMVOCs as benzene.

Population exposure to fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) is declining, but remains one of the highest in OECD countries and still exceeds the WHO guideline value across districts, due to high natural background levels. Road transport is the main source of air pollution in urban population centres while illegal waste burning is a major source in rural areas. Industries are also significant sources of PM_2.5 concentrations.

Freshwater resources

Intensity of use of freshwater resources

Due to its climatic conditions, Israel is under high water stress and water scarcity is a major concern. To provide its rapidly growing economy with sufficient and reliable water and achieve water security, Israel relies on desalinated water and treated wastewater (each representing about a quarter of water use). Israel’s five desalination plants supply over 80% of the country’s domestic urban water (i.e. water not used for irrigation). More than 87% of wastewater effluents are reused, mainly in agriculture. However, freshwater still accounts for about a third of the water used in agriculture, thus maintaining a high pressure on freshwater resources.

Water consumption per person is among the lowest in OECD countries, thanks to massive public awareness campaigns emphasising the value of water.

At the 2017 United Nations Oceans Conference, Israel made a voluntary commitment to reduce the direct discharge of wastewater into the sea by the end of 2017 by 80% compared to 2012. Today, about 94% of all wastewater is collected and treated; 87% is reused, primarily for agricultural purposes.

Almost all inhabitants (99%) are connected to a wastewater treatment plant, but only 56% benefit from tertiary (“advanced”) treatment due to delays in the upgrading of Jerusalem’s and Haifa’s large wastewater treatment plants.

Waste, materials and circular economy

Municipal waste

The amounts of municipal waste generated have steadily increased over the past 20 years. Israel has one of the highest levels of municipal waste generation per person among OECD countries. This is mainly due to the rapid population growth and rising standards of living.

Although municipal waste is increasingly recovered, about 78% were still landfilled in 2020, one of the highest shares in the OECD. This is partly due to the low landfill tax in Israel.

Material consumption

Israel’s economy is rather resource-intensive; and both domestic material consumption and the material footprint per person are above the OECD average. Both indicators showed upward trends between 2010 and 2019. Over the same period, Israel’s material productivity decreased, contrary to the average trend observed across OECD countries. This is due to a strong increase in the consumption of non-metallic minerals in the construction sector, and to a smaller extent, rising domestic fossil fuel extraction. This is in turn, explain by the rise in construction activities to respond to the increasing demand for new housing and infrastructure of the rapidly growing population.

Material consumption is dominated by non-metallic minerals, the highest share among OECD member countries.

Biodiversity

The increasing demand for and development of housing [settlements] and other infrastructure exert growing pressures on open natural landscapes, cause habitat fragmentation and add to land scarcity.

Despite its relatively small size, Israel enjoys extensive biodiversity at a junction of migratory routes between Europe, Asia and Africa. However, the status of indigenous species is preoccupying, especially for amphibians and mammals. The protected species list was updated in 2019; hundreds of species were added; all species on the Red List of Plants are now protected.

Protected areas

In Israel, most land is publicly owned, which facilitates the designation of protected areas. Over the last decade, the country has considerably expanded its terrestrial protected areas, which cover almost a quarter of its land area. This is well above the OECD average and the 2020 Aichi targets (under the Convention on Biological Diversity) to protect at least 17% of land area. Although the country recently established some marine protected areas, their share of the country’s economic exclusive zone (EEZ) remains low. A new protected area was designated in the Palmachim Disturbance of the Mediterranean Sea in September 2022, which more than doubles the size of Israel’s offshore protected areas. Israel now has 650 km2 of marine protected areas, about 2.9% of its EEZ.

References and further reading

OECD (2023), Environmental Performance Reviews: Israel 2023, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/0175ae95-en.

OECD (2020), OECD Economic Surveys: Israel 2020, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/d6a7d907-en.

IEA, “Israel country profile”, https://www.iea.org/countries/israel.

MoEP (2021), Israel Environmental Bulletin, Vol. 45, March 2021, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Jerusalem, https://www.gov.il/he/departments/publications/reports/environmental_bulletin.

Marin, P. et al. (2017), Water Management in Israel: Key Innovations and Lessons Learned for Water Scarce Countries. World Bank, Washington, DC, http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28097.