This afternoon State Comptroller, Matanyahu Englman, published a follow-up report on the handling of the climate crisis and other reports on environmental issues.
In the report he warned that "in addition to security attention, the Prime Minister and ministers must take action and deal with the environmental risks. The environmental reports we published today were mostly completed before the war. I see importance in publishing them at this time."
Englman claims that "the government is treading water. This is another red flag for the Prime Minister and ministers; Most of the deficits we warned about in 2021 were not corrected. The State of Israel is left with many statements and a long list of government decisions regarding its commitment to take action regarding climate issues, but has not taken all the necessary actions. The absence of real corrective actions puts the state at many risks. The Treasury has delayed and even halted the country's preparedness to deal with the climate crisis on certain issues."
Referring to air pollution from Judea and Samaria, Englman claimed that "this is a longstanding failure of the Civil Administration and the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Air pollution from fires have worsened during the Swords of Iron War, and more than 50,000 complaints from residents have been sent to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, but it has not updated the Ministry of Health. This is will cost the country over NIS 9 billion in environmental health damage by 2030."
Regarding air pollution in the Haifa Bay, the State Comptroller said: "The Ministry of Environmental Protection has not reported to the government for three years (2019-2021) on how the plans to reduce air pollution are being implemented – and did not publish data on 60% of the serious deviations in pollutant emissions from factories in the bay (2021-2022)."
Englman's follow-up report revealed a worrying picture, through detailed monitoring of the handling of more than 100 audits in a previous document submitted in 2021: most of the deficiencies were not corrected at all, or were not fully corrected; The State of Israel is left with many situations that have been mainly embedded in a long list of government decisions regarding its commitment to take action on climate issues, but without leading processes or taking actions that will promote real progress. It is therefore possible to characterize the government's conduct on the issue as "functional treading water."
"The findings of this follow-up audit must therefore be seen as raising another red flag for the government and the Prime Minister. It is exceptionally important to integrate international action with the climate crisis, and Israel must take an active part in dealing with this together with the rest of the world. The lack of real corrective action regarding the state's conduct on the climate crisis, led by the government and its leader, places the country at risk in the future that is relevant to both current and future generations," Englman concluded.