All Government Ministries Must Submit Climate Action Plans by the End of 2023

This week, the Israeli government approved the joint proposal submitted by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Environmental Protection to obligate all government ministries to formulate climate action plans. The proposal was approved ahead of the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference, which will be held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

The government resolution stipulates that ministries must formulate and submit an action plan by the end of 2023 that will specify how the ministry is preparing for the climate crisis. The Ministry of Environmental Protection will provide a professional advisor to the ministries, who will help them map needs, formulate and draft their action plans.

Reference scenarios

The government ministries are responsible for various fields, all of which may be impacted by the climate crisis. Against this backdrop and considering the government resolution of July 2018 (“Israel’s Preparedness to Adapt to Climate Change”), the National Emergency Management Authority began preparing reference scenarios for climate change in collaboration with the Ministry of Environmental Protection (the first reference scenario on floods was already published this year). In the coming years, additional reference scenarios are expected to be published in order to help the various government ministries prepare for the expected climate events in our region and around the world.

The resolution obligating ministries to submit action plans by the end of 2023 that will specify how they are preparing for the climate crisis joins a series of measures taken by the Ministry of Environmental Protection to improve Israel’s preparedness and readiness for the expected changes in the wake of the climate crisis.