President will represent Israel at upcoming UN climate meet

Addressing delegation that will head to COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, Herzog stresses importance of regional cooperation when ‘axis of evil tries to close us in from all directions’

Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter

President Isaac Herzog (center) and his wife Michal (to his left) pose at the President's Residence in Jerusalem with members of the Israeli delegation to the upcoming United Nations COP29 climate conference in Baku, Ajerbaijan, October 29, 2024. (Mayan Toaf / GPO)
President Isaac Herzog (center) and his wife Michal (to his left) pose at the President's Residence in Jerusalem with members of the Israeli delegation to the upcoming United Nations COP29 climate conference in Baku, Ajerbaijan, October 29, 2024. (Mayan Toaf / GPO)

President Isaac Herzog announced Tuesday that he will be representing Israel at this year’s United Nations climate conference, COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Speaking to the Israeli delegation to the confab at the President’s Residence, Herzog said he would attend during the second week following a visit to the US, citing the importance of climate change and of building regional cooperation at a time when the “axis of evil [Iran and its proxies] is trying to close us in from all directions.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not expected in Baku.

Herzog told the gathering of government officials, businesspeople, academics, and representatives of civil society organizations and 20 climate tech startups chosen to represent the country that while some believed it was inappropriate to discuss the climate crisis while the country was at war, the opposite was true.

The security situation only emphasized the need to decentralize the country’s electricity system (to protect it from attack), ensure food security and water supply, and preserve open spaces and nature, he went on. Climate change “isn’t going anywhere,” he added.

The president said it was critical for Israel to pass a climate bill that committed the government to “obligatory targets” on reducing global warming emissions.

The Finance Ministry has fought against anchoring any climate targets in law.

MK Yaakov Asher (United Torah Judaism) revealed that he first learned about climate change when he became the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee chairman.

He said many people remained ignorant about the climate threat because activists used many “big words, usually foreign ones.”

“In the end, there’s a real danger here for our children, our grandchildren,” he conceded.

Noting that he hadn’t “suddenly become green,” he said simpler language should convey the climate message and encourage the country to prepare seriously for the effects of global warming.

“My job is to pass this [climate] legislation,” Asher went on, adding he hoped it would be soon.

United Torah Judaism’s Yaakov Asher, who chairs the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee, pictured at the Knesset, Jerusalem, October 21, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

But he said that the bill that would leave his committee for second and third readings in the Knesset plenum would differ from the one that passed its first reading in April.

It would set targets that the government had a chance of meeting, possibly disappointing those with “big dreams,” he said. It would also require compromise from the Finance Ministry.

The audience welcomed his pledge to ensure the bill had “teeth” and was underpinned by a budget — both lacking in the bill’s first version.

In March, the state comptroller issued a report slamming Finance Ministry officials for being inactive at best and often obstructive on climate-related issues.

Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman said she hoped the climate bill would be passed by the time Israel’s delegation flew to Baku for the conference, which starts on November 11.

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