Clean Air Law Will Improve Israel's Environment

July 29, 2008

Israel’s environmental movement scored one of its most important victories last week when the Knesset passed the Clean Air Law. Upon hearing that the law had been enacted, Tzipi Iser Itzik, Executive Director of the Israel Union of Environmental Defense (IUED), which drafted the law said:”This is an important day for the Israeli public who can look forward to cleaner air and a healthier environment. We are proud of the pivotal role IUED has played on the public’s behalf in bringing this landmark bill into law.” The IUED is supported by NIF through the Green Environment Fund (GEF).

Having initially formulated the bill more than five years ago, IUED has devoted thousands of hours to revising the proposed law. IUED teamed up with Green Course, also supported by GEF, and other NGOs to lobby and demonstrate for the law’s enactment. 

Green Course demonstrators protest the level
of industrial pollution in Israel's air.

The law is desperately needed in Israel. A recent European Union report cited Tel Aviv as the third worst city for air pollution in the European and Mediterranean region after Bucharest and Krakow.  And according to the IUED, one in five children in the greater Tel Aviv region suffers from respiratory illnesses related to air pollution, while over 1,100 people die each year as a result of air pollution in Israel’s largest metropolitan area.

The Clean Air Law sets out strict emission standards and regulates procedures for monitoring air quality, which will be transparent and available to the public. Most importantly, the law stipulates heavy fines for pollutants. The law will not come into force until January 1, 2011 in order to allow the 150 major Israeli factories polluting the country’s air to install the expensive equipment required to decrease pollution.

Iser Itzik commented, “Our work is not done and a major challenge ahead is to ensure the enforcement of the law by the Environment Ministry."

The Green Environment Fund is supported within the framework of NIF's Environment Program, which strives to achieve environmental justice for Israel's citizens.