Eastmed is an international project designed to export fossil gas (known as “natural gas”) from Israel to Europe. The intention is to lay a pipeline that will pump gas from reservoirs to the shores of Israel via Cyprus, Crete, to mainland Greece and from there to Italy. This is an unprecedented engineering project – the longest and deepest underwater pipeline in the world, 1,900 km long (1,300 of them at sea) and 3 km below the Mediterranean Sea. The capacity of the pipeline is up to 20 billion cubic meters of gas per year – more than the annual consumption of gas in Israel today [1] [2] [3].
The project is being promoted by the countries involved with EU backing. Marine preparation surveys have already been conducted for the project, and the final decision on investment in it is expected in the coming year.
[1] משרד האנרגיה – הקמת צינור תת–ימי מישראל לאירופה
[3] נתיבי הגז הטבעי לישראל (נתג“ז) – צריכה בפועל, ביקושים והפרשי מדידה של גז טבעי
Map of the Istamed pipeline route
The position of a green trend towards the Istamed project
Green Trend along with many other environmental organizations oppose the Istamed project and demand its cancellation for the many reasons now detailed.
Mediterranean Sea Risk: The Mediterranean Sea is a “biological hotspot” that is, an ecological area, where there is a biodiversity of great importance that is threatened by human activity, and requires special protection [5]. The pipeline may pose a danger to the habitats of marine creatures, both in its construction process and especially in the event of a malfunction or accident. As the recent oil disaster has shown us, the damage to animals and ecosystems can be enormous, and the economic burden of repairing the damage is expected to fall on the state, at the expense of the citizens of Israel. [6]
The development of the Istamed pipeline is expected to lead to the acceleration and expansion of the search for many more gas and oil reservoirs. The search processes are very harmful to marine animals, including endangered species due to the use of sound in seismic surveys, and conducting exploration or production drilling can cause extensive environmental destruction to marine life due to noise, light and chemical pollution associated with drilling operations [7]. Unique habitats such as those in the area called Palmach Disruption are likely to be endangered in light of the drilling licenses already granted to Energian, which has an interest and rights in the gas capacity exported through the Istmed pipeline [8] [9].
The increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as a result of burning fossil fuels, including gas, increases the acidity of the sea, which leads to severe damage to corals, oysters, snails and other animals that build a calcareous skeleton. These creatures form the basis of marine ecosystems. The rise in sea acidity together with global warming which raises the temperature of the sea create conditions that endanger the continuation of life in the sea [10].
Aggravation of the climate crisis: Israel’s energy policy promotes 34 infrastructure projects in fossil fuels, of which Istmed is one of the most significant in terms of the implications for greenhouse gas emissions.
It is important to remember that the planet is in a severe global climate crisis, the consequences of which are expected to be particularly devastating in the State of Israel, since our region is considered a “hot spot” for climate change. Temperatures here rise at a rate almost twice as fast as the world average [11]. Global warming and the climate crisis are the result of the emission of huge amounts of greenhouse gases and mainly carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas [12]. As for fossil gas, it turns out that it is increasing global warming even more than the use of coal and oil. This is because it is composed of methane, which is 84 times more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide over a period of 20 years [13] [14]. The scientific community warns that gas cannot be the solution to the crisis, not even temporarily [15], and states that reducing methane use should play a greater role in curbing the devastating consequences of the crisis [16]. Israel’s commitment to the fight against the climate crisis does not stem solely from the international agreements it has signed. First and foremost, it is a moral obligation of the state towards its citizens, to contribute its share to the global effort and to work for the protection of their lives and the lives of their children. At the height of the climate crisis, Israel is choosing to expand its use of gas instead of reducing it, and is promoting the huge Istamed project.
The project is expected to lead to a dramatic increase in methane and carbon dioxide emissions for which Israel is responsible as a gas exporter, thus positioning Israel as a significant factor in exacerbating the climate crisis [17] [18]. This is because a commercial policy of gas export is expected to increase the amount of gas pumped from existing gas reservoirs and lead to an acceleration and increase in the search for additional reservoirs, far beyond what is required for supplying the needs of the Israeli energy economy. Also, methane emissions begin long before the gas is burned in the destination country, as a result of leaks throughout the gas production and transmission process. The flow of gas in the pipeline for thousands of kilometers until it is produced overseas, has the potential for leaks on a huge scale, especially in the event of a malfunction.
A short-term investment that will not pay off in the future: One of the main considerations in promoting the project is economic development, but in fact, the economic damage outweighs the benefit. The global trend is clear: more than 120 countries have already begun the transition to a zero-emission economy by 2050. A new report by the International Energy Agency, which has a major impact on global energy policy, has adopted this approach and states unequivocally that “from today Do not invest in new fossil fuel supply projects. “[19] And in order to meet the ambitious targets it has set for itself to wean fossil fuels and beyond renewable energies, it will have to abandon gas completely in the coming decades. Also, solar energy, including storage, is cheaper than gas today. [21] There is a reasonable chance that the infrastructure of the project will be abandoned by the developers in the not-too-distant future, due to lack of economic viability. , At the expense of investing in the more massive promotion and development of renewable energies, and with risk It is likely to create economic dependence on a project that will become a stuck asset and an environmental “white elephant” within a few years.
Damage to Israel-Turkey relations:
הסכם האיסטמד מכתיב מסגרת נוקשה מבחינה פוליטית, ו”נועל” את ישראל יחד עם המדינות המעורבות במיזם תוך ניכורן של אלה המודרות ממנ
The Istamed agreement dictates a politically rigid framework, and “locks” Israel together with the countries involved in the project, alienating those who are excluded from it, especially Turkey. As a result, the already existing political tensions between Turkey and Greece and Cyprus are exacerbated, and Israel is forced to be dragged into a confrontation and take sides. Turkey has already begun to pursue a sharp counter-policy, promoting countermeasures that pose a strategic danger to the State of Israel, inter alia by creating an exclusive maritime economic zone that could infringe on the State of Israel’s freedom of action in the Mediterranean. [22] Continued promotion of the agreement could damage the already sensitive relations between Israel and Turkey, and place it at the heart of a geopolitical conflict.
Summary
The State of Israel must immediately withdraw from the Istamed project and lead to its cancellation, as it is an environmental, economic, and geopolitical disaster in the making. In order to become an energy power, Israel must strive to lead the global trend towards the transition to renewable energies, and not invest in exporting a polluting and irrelevant energy source in order to deplete recent profits from an obsolete field.
[1] משרד האנרגיה – הקמת צינור תת–ימי מישראל לאירופה
[3] נתיבי הגז הטבעי לישראל (נתג“ז) – צריכה בפועל, ביקושים והפרשי מדידה של גז טבעי
[4] Global Witness – Hot under the collar: Energean and the EastMed gas pipeline
[5] THE MEDITERRANEAN: A BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOT UNDER THREAT
[6] גלובס: פניה של הרשלנות הסביבתית בישראל: הנזקים שאפשר לראות עד היום מאירועי העבר
[7] סקר אסטרטגי סביבתי לחיפוש והפקה של נפט ושל גז טבעי בים
[8] כאן: המערב הפרוע של הים: פנינת הטבע שהפכה לאתר קידוח
[9] כלכליסט: החברה להגנת הטבע עתרה נגד משרד האנרגיה: לבטל מכרז לקידוח בים
[10] הארץ: חוקרים: עלייה בחומציות ובטמפרטורת הים התיכון מסכנת את החיים בו
[11] המשרד להגנת הסביבה על השפעות משבר האקלים על ישראל, מומחים: אגן הים התיכון מתחמם כמעט פי שניים
[12] NASA – Causes | Facts – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet
[13] Union of Concerned Scientists: Environmental Impacts of Natural Gas
[14] ד”ר דניאל מדר על השפעות המתאן על משבר האקלים
[15] קריאה של הקהילה המדעית לשקול מחדש את הרחבת השימוש בגז הטבעי במשק האנרגיה
[16] הארץ: ‘האו“ם: חיוני לבלום את הפליטה הנרחבת של מתאן כדי לבלום את משבר האקלים‘
[17] גלובס: תגובה להערכת משרד האנרגיה על פליטות מתאן בישראל
[18] דו”ח אדם טבע ודין על פליטות מתאן ממאגרי הגז תמר ולוויתן
[19] IEA: Net Zero by 2050 – A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector
[20] European Commission: The European Green Deal
[21] BloombergNEF: Solar-plus-storage is a ‘zero-emissions threat’ to gas-burning power plants in the US
[22]YNET : אולי כדאי לשכוח מצינור הגז לאירופה
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נוסף על ידי Limor Gruber
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