Sue Surkes

Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter.

Ships seen at sunset off the coast of the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, on May 13, 2019. (Mendy Hechtman/Flash90)

November 25, 2021, 9:48 pm

Experts: Israel has ‘no strategy’ for managing ‘lifeline’ Mediterranean Sea

Naval, planning experts tell confab that country needs laws, coordinating body, to ensure that sea, on which Israel depends for drinking water, fuel and trade, is properly managed

By Sue Surkes

A shopper tries out the bottle deposit automat at a Talpiot, south Jerusalem, branch of the Yochananoff supermarket chain, November 23, 2021. (Sue Surkes/Times of Israel)

November 25, 2021, 5:51 pm

Supermarkets ill-prepared for expanded bottle deposit law

With just 200 or so machines available countrywide to collect beverage containers and issue refunds, Environment Ministry faces bumpy start of big bottle regulations December 1

By Sue Surkes

Calves on a live shipment from Australia to Eilat for fattening, prior to slaughter, December 2019. (Israel Against Live Shipments)

November 23, 2021, 3:14 am

MK launches new Knesset animal welfare caucus, vows to end live shipments of calves

It’s time for others to ‘stop calling us crazy,’ says Yesh Atid’s Yasmin Sacks-Friedman, also highlighting plight of street cats, and caged hens and pigs

By Sue Surkes

Climate activists march through the streets of Glasgow, Scotland, on November 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

November 15, 2021, 11:41 am

The Glasgow climate conference failed us, and the planet, big time

Without rich nations committing to phase out fossil fuels and without funding to help the developing world, humanity faces a grim future

By Sue Surkes

Workers on the Tamar gas processing rig on June 23, 2014. (Moshe Shai/FLASH90)

November 11, 2021, 11:12 am

Knesset passes legislation to force companies to pay into sovereign wealth fund

Industries that exploit Israel’s natural resources, like gas and the Dead Sea, have until now avoided paying while appeals went on over amounts owed

By Sue Surkes

Delegates gather inside the venue on another day at the COP26 UN Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021. (AP/Alberto Pezzali)

November 9, 2021, 1:18 pm

With 40,000 delegates, COP26 radiates energy. But will it bring real change?

Despite high-profile pledges, new ideas and much hard, novel work, the world is still not close to meeting its climate goals, and some are skeptical that Glasgow is the solution

By Sue Surkes

Haifa's industrial area. (Avishag Shaar Yashuv/Flash90)

November 9, 2021, 10:37 am

Manufacturers say businesses aiming for zero emissions need less bureaucracy

According to Manufacturers Association of Israel representative at COP26: Companies are willing to spend, but it’s hard to progress

By Sue Surkes

State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman (L) shows an English translation of his office's recent report on the climate performance of successive Israeli governments to the Latvian Auditor General, Rolands Irklis, during the COP26 UN climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, November 4, 2021. (State Comptroller's Office)

November 5, 2021, 6:45 pm

Israel’s state comptroller leads meeting of global counterparts in Glasgow

Matanyahu Englman tells group of state auditors they are best suited to ensure ‘government decisions on climate are translated into effective action’

By Sue Surkes

In this July 9, 2009, photo, Adilla Finchaan, 50, and her husband Ashore Mohammed, 60, check theIr land in Latifiyah, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

November 3, 2021, 9:00 am

Regional leaders set to ratify Middle East climate plan next year

Science-based 10-year action plan put together under auspices of Cypriot government

By Sue Surkes

Smallholder horticulture project – a joint cooperation program between the Foreign Ministy's MASHAV program, USAID and Ethiopia’s Ministry of Agriculture. (MASHAV)

November 3, 2021, 5:21 am

Foreign Ministry to get embassies, consulates competing for Green Standard

Overseas missions to be ranked annually on green performance in everything from recycling and energy efficiency to raising awareness in the local community

By Sue Surkes

Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg talks with green NGOs from Israel attending the COP26 UN climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, November 2, 2021. (Sue Surkes/Times of Israel)

November 3, 2021, 2:09 am

In Glasgow, environment minister urges groups to steer society to greener future

Green nonprofits included in official Israeli delegation to UN climate talks for first-time, alongside a business and industry delegation

By Sue Surkes

Alma Pomagrin, 15 (R) and Lia Lev (16) of the Israel branch of Fridays4Future meet with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the UN climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, on November 1, 2021. (Sue Surkes/Times of Israel)

November 1, 2021, 11:51 pm

Teen climate activists fly to UN confab in Scotland, deliver letter to PM

Alma Pomagrin, 15, and Lia Lev, 16, both from central Israel, present request signed by 524 young people for Israel to set more ambitious climate targets

By Sue Surkes

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett delivers a speech on stage during a meeting at the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, on November 1, 2021. (Haim Zach/GPO)

November 1, 2021, 6:04 pm

PM in Glasgow: ‘Climate innovation nation’ ready to ‘pave way’ on solutions

‘As the country with the most start-ups per capita in the world, we must channel our efforts to saving our world,’ Naftali Bennett tells world leaders at COP26 climate conference

By Sue Surkes

In this Dec. 22, 2016 photo, 50,000 mirrors, known as heliostats,encircle the solar tower in the Negev desert, near in Ashelim, southern Israel. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

November 1, 2021, 6:45 am

As gloomy Glasgow summit kicks off, is Israel missing out on a key ray of hope?

Climate conference expected to focus on role of business and money in getting world back on track, but no Finance Ministry officials will be there to weigh in

By Sue Surkes

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett talks to reporters before boarding a plane to Scotland for the COP 26 United Nations climate talks, October 31, 2021. ( Haim Zach GPO)

November 1, 2021, 4:30 am

Bennett says Israel to set up fund to encourage investment in green technology

En-route to climate summit, PM says Israel’s real contribution to climate change lies in its ability to innovate, but this needs huge capital investment

By Sue Surkes