Climate, Infrastructure and Energy

Over the past decade, the amount of natural gas in electricity generation in Israel increased significantly, while the use of coal and diesel declined. Alongside the economic and environmental advantages, the use of natural gas raises new issues of electricity security and systemic robustness, because it is supplied through only two pipelines from the offshore reservoirs to the coast, without any storage capacity within Israel. Moreover, gas-based production is concentrated at a small number of production sites, and the transmission of electricity to consumers depends on the reliability of the national transmission system. This dependence on a few sources and on a limited transmission route creates a growing risk to the reliability of supply, particularly in security or climate emergencies.

Three decades after the signing of the peace agreement with the Hashemite Kingdom, the water sector continues to stand out as a high-potential lever for strengthening relations between Jerusalem and Amman

What can Israel learn from one of the largest American states that suffers from a severe energy and climate crisis?

Israel possesses a vast, environmentally-friendly, cutting edge and effectively inexhaustible potential fuel resource: the large-scale production of green and blue hydrogen in the Negev. The country’s energy resilience depends to a considerable extent on harnessing this resource and fully realizing its latent potential. Following the weakening of the Iranian axis, the threats facing the State of Israel may have changed but have not disappeared. Threats to the energy sector occupy a distinct and critical position, given its essential role in both the economy and defense. This article examines the nature of future geopolitical threats to Israel’s energy supply chains and infrastructure, with particular emphasis on the unique characteristics of oil and the dependence of the transportation and industrial sectors on it. The point of departure is the assumption that Israel must prepare for the emergence of a “cold conflict” with Turkey; under such circumstances, Turkey’s extensive leverage over Israel’s oil supply routes constitutes a clear threat to the country’s energy resilience. Identifying these threats points to the required systemic response: the decentralization and diversification of production and transmission sources. In this context, the article argues that one of the most important systemic responses lies in the production of green and blue hydrogen within an advanced infrastructure network to be established in the Negev.