Articles in this issue focus in depth on priority issues: air quality including updates on air pollution monitoring reports, steps to reduce vehicular pollution and ways to restrain private car use, remediation of the Ramat Hovav hazardous waste site, a new program to clean Jerusalem of construction and demolition waste and new victories in stopping urban encroachment on open spaces. In 2008, the reduction of air pollution in Israel will figure high on the Ministry of Environmental Protection's priority list, yielding a double benefit - cleaner air for Israelis to breathe locally and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, as part of Israel's contribution to combating climate change on the global level.
Additional articles focus on Israel's place on the global agenda: Israel's place on the World Heritage List, preparatory steps for accession to the OECD and the convening of a major international exhibition on environmental technologies in Israel.
Excerpt: Targeting Vehicular Pollution
Recent years have seen a flurry of activity to reduce vehicular pollution in Israel: fuel quality improvements, research studies, innovative technologies, regulatory and enforcement mechanisms, roadside inspection and public awareness campaigns. Yet, without doubt, the real breakthrough came in the form of a far-reaching government decision on the reduction of air pollution from transportation sources, which was approved in September 2007.
Pollutant emissions from transportation sources are a major cause of air pollution in both large cities and more remote areas located downwind from pollutant sources, where they endanger public health. The problem is exacerbated by the dramatic increase in cars on Israel's congested roads - reaching over 2.1 million in 2006 - and the continuous rise in kilometers traveled by vehicles each year. The newly approved action plan will make a real contribution toward the reduction of toxic air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions while helping to reduce fuel consumption, dependence on imported oil and traffic congestion.
The decision was preceded by years of painstaking work by an interministerial team which was specifically set up to submit recommendations on the reduction of vehicular pollution. The plan includes a wide variety of measures based on economic, legislative and technological steps to reduce vehicular emissions and allow Israel's residents to breathe easier.
According to Avi Moshel, in charge of vehicular pollution in the Air Quality Division of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, implementation of the action plan will significantly reduce pollutant emissions from vehicles, and the test of the plan will lie in its implementation.
Moshel expects most of the elements of the action plan to be implemented this year. And progress is indeed being made. Within a few months of the government decision on vehicular pollution reduction, in January 2008, yet another government decision was unanimously approved - this time on green taxes. The decision represents the first time that the government has decided to link the tax rate imposed on vehicles and fuels to the level of pollution and level of environmental damage they cause.
According to the decision, the most highly polluting vehicles will be subject to additional purchase taxes of up to 15,000 shekels while taxes on clean vehicles will be reduced. Much lower taxes will be imposed on electric cars: a tax rate of up to 10% until the end of 2014 and up to 30% between 2015 and 2019. The rationale: to motivate people to drive greener cars by providing tax breaks for the purchase of these cars.
In parallel, the Green Tax Committee related to a number of other issues, including a gradual tax increase on polluting fuels, such as crude oil, so that they too would be linked to the pollution emitted during their use.
According to Environmental Protection Minister Gideon Ezra, ''Air pollution is an especially severe environmental and health problem. More than 1000 people die each year as a result of air pollution in the Greater Tel Aviv area alone. I am convinced that approval of the plan will bring about a better and healthier Israel.''
Israel Prepares for Electric Cars
One component of Israel's national plan for the reduction of vehicular pollution relates to electric cars. This issue has been highly publicized in Israel and worldwide due to an initiative by Project Better Place to make electric cars available on the Israeli market. On January 21, 2008, the Renault-Nissan Alliance signed an agreement with Project Better Place for the conversion of conventional cars to run on electric motors. On its part, Project Better Place expects to build and operate a network of recharging stations and battery replacement stations throughout Israel. The vehicles will run on lithium-ion batteries. The vision is to make Israel a testing ground for electric cars, with the state offering tax breaks to purchasers and the new company, with an initial investment of $200 million, to begin construction of recharging facilities. Shai Agassi, the entrepreneur behind the venture, expects the first electric cars to be available in Israel in 2011.
Day without Air Pollution: Yom Kippur 2007
A drastic reduction in nitrogen oxides concentrations was measured on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, celebrated in Israel from the afternoon of September 21 to the afternoon of September 22, 2007. Nitrogen oxides concentrations, which are indicators of pollution from transportation sources, plummeted in transportation monitoring stations in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area (Gush Dan) and in Jerusalem.
Dr. Levana Kordova, scientific director of the air quality monitoring network of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, noted that the phenomenon of very low air pollution on Yom Kippur is unique to Israel. Yom Kippur is the only day in the year when traffic in Israel is reduced to a near halt. Thus, the holiday provides a singular opportunity to investigate the impact of vehicular air pollutants on concentration levels. As in past years, the significant improvement in air quality on this day clearly illustrates the impact of transportation as the major source of air pollution in large cities.