Cablegate: Israel Supports U.S. Approach to Csd Energy Round
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS TEL AVIV 006355
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
DEPT FOR OES/PCI, OES/SENV, NEA/IPA AND NEA/RA
USEPA FOR INTERNATIONAL
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV ECON ENRG EAID AORC IS ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
SUBJECT: ISRAEL SUPPORTS U.S. APPROACH TO CSD ENERGY ROUND
REF: STATE 114906
1. (U) The Ministry of Environment shares U.S. views on the
recent Water Round of the U.N. Commission on Sustainable
Development (CSD) and looks forward to working closely with
the U.S. and other like-minded parties in the Energy Round.
MOE officials have made the following points to ESTH officer
and Department visitors in recent conversations:
-- The GOI is beginning to focus on the CSD Energy Round,
within MOE and in the GOI's Interministerial CSD.
Traditionally, Israel has emphasized water conservation but
has not focused much on energy conservation. MOE officials
see the Energy Round as an opportunity to build on a new GOI
emphasis on energy efficiency and conservation, including
involvement of business and academia. Israel is a leader in
solar energy research and MOE will look for opportunities to
expand the use of solar. The GOI is increasing the use of
natural gas in the country's energy mix, including by
requiring plants using heavy fuel oil to convert to gas. MOE
is also looking for ways to increase the number of hybrid
cars, and is examining employee incentives, which currently
are calculated based on car ownership/use and not designed to
promote conservation.
-- MOE is interested in learning what U.S. industry is doing
voluntarily to reduce energy consumption. It sees this CSD
round as an opportunity to adopt guidelines and methods from
other countries. Like the U.S., the GOI wants to move from
words to action with CSD initiatives.
-- The Ministry hopes to share some of its own experiences
during the Energy Round. It recently negotiated a voluntary
covenant with industry on air pollution. With an assist from
OECD, MOE has embraced using a combination of voluntary and
regulatory methods to support policy, including for achieving
energy conservation.
-- MOE is also emphasizing sustainable consumption at the
individual and household level and is putting together a
workshop on that theme with EU assistance and is consulting
with UNEP about sustainable consumption as well. Much of
this focus is on consumer awareness, including product
labeling.
-- MOE is also promoting corporate social responsibility and
looking for ways to encourage companies to integrate
environmental concerns into business operations. The
Ministry is co-sponsoring a conference with the "Haaretz"
newspaper later this month which will include a U.S. SEC
speaker addressing key issues facing boards of directors.
-- The GOI would welcome a CSD focus on implementation tools,
such as economic incentives, cost-benefit analyses applied to
public policy issues, and public information kits.
2. (SBU) MOE officials have said that they have had
difficulty in securing the passage of environmental
legislation that is both broad and effective, citing recent
coastal legislation and the air quality law as cases where
framework legislation was weakened by the time it was enacted
into law. Pragmatic experiences, methods, technologies and
collaborations garnered from the Energy Round will help MOE
in its efforts to promote Israel's own sustainable
development goals.
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JONES