Israel’s Cabinet decided Oct. 25 to increase the production of electricity from renewable resources by 13% by the year 2030. The Cabinet adopted a proposal put up by the Ministry of Energy for increasing the share of renewable energies from 17% to 30%, rejecting demands by the Ministry for Environmental Protection to set the 2030 goal at 40%.

Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz predicted that the transition to cleaner energies could save the economy more than $2 billion annually. He described the new 30% goal as "ambitious and a real revolution," noting that the remaining 70% of Israel’s energy needs will need to be met by natural gas. As a reminder, Israel had discovered some 10 years ago enormous reserves of natural gas, off the country’s Mediterranean coast.

Sources within the Ministry of Environmental Protection expressed disappointment over the decision. For them, the goal is much too low. They also say natural gas plants are certainly less polluting than coal-produced electricity, but are still considered dangerous for the environment.

Before the government debate, David Yahalomi, director general of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, sent a letter to the Ministry of Energy, encouraging it to aim much higher. "The new goal you have set of generating by 2030 30% of Israel’s electricity from renewable energy is certainly an improvement compared with the current goal, but does not reflect the optimized potential for the country. We are proposing to set the goal at 40%, in a way that will exploit the enormous potential of producing solar energies in constructed areas. Led by OECD [Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development] countries, the world is in the midst of a strategic transformation toward an electricity market based on renewable energies. The world is moving from fossil fuel-based, polluting economies, to clean energies," wrote Yahalomi.