Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel s environment reporter.
Israel is embarking on clean infrastructure projects such as the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem railway, pictured on December 22, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The Finance Ministry is pushing ahead with new regulations to encourage insurance, pension and provident funds to invest up to NIS 100 billion ($31.4 billion) in large-scale infrastructure projects in Israel NIS 20 billion ($6.3 billion) of it in environmental-friendly initiatives the annual Environment 2050 conference heard on Thursday.
This amount is out of a total of some NIS 3 trillion ($942.5 million) managed by these institutions, said Moshe Bareket, supervisor of the Capital Market, Insurance, and Savings Authority.
Forthcoming frosty weather to have little effect on winter crops in Belarus
An archive photo
MINSK, 6 January (BelTA) – The forthcoming cold weather spell presents no danger for winter crops, BelTA learned from the National Center for Hydrometeorology, Radioactive Contamination Control, and Environmental Monitoring of the Belarusian Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry.
According to agricultural meteorologists, conditions for winter crops remain satisfactory, no dangerous phenomena have been registered. Air temperatures are expected to drop closer to mid-January 2021, however, the cold spell presents no danger for winter crops. When air temperatures and soil temperatures fall gradually, winter crops go through another acclimation and restore their ability to resist frost. Apart from that, the snow mantle is expected to grow thicker in many parts of Belarus, the national weather service said.
Dead Sea Periclase Ltd. (Shira Sal Webshat, via Israel Chemicals Ltd)
In a step toward greenness, ICL (Israel Chemicals Ltd), which operates some of the country’s most polluting facilities, is to build a 5.5 MW solar power plant in Mishor Rotem, an industrial area east of Dimona in the Negev desert, in the coming months.
The project is part of a broader plan to add tens of megawatts of solar-driven energy to its worldwide operations by 2030, the company said.
The solar-PV plant, covering around 15 acres (60 dunams), will supply all the energy needs of Dead Sea Periclase Ltd, a plant that makes magnesium products on the site.
Electricity-generating solar panels. (Danny Shechtman)
Three lawmakers rushed Tuesday to burnish their environmental credentials hours before the Knesset was expected to disband.
The Knesset voted 49-47 overnight Monday-Tuesday against legislation that would have given the Likud and Blue and White parties extra time to reach agreement on a state budget. As a result of the failure to pass a budget, at midnight, the parliament will dissolve and new elections the fourth in two years will automatically be triggered.
Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel (Likud) announced interministerial agreement on the wording of an amendment to the Land Law to enable apartment blocks home to some 75 percent of Israelis to put solar panels on roofs under common ownership with greater ease.
Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel s environment reporter.
An undated photo of Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz (R) and Egyptian Petroleum Minister Tarek El-Molla speaking during a meeting of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum, in Cairo, Egypt. (courtesy, Israeli Energy Ministry)
Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel on Sunday threw a monkey wrench into the plans of Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz and his Egyptian counterpart to create an Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum to advance regional interests in natural gas.
By expressing her reservations to the formal ratification of a September signing of statutes by the two nations, along with Jordan, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, and the Palestinian Authority, Gamliel ensured that the issue is brought before the cabinet for a full debate and decision.