{"id":4451,"date":"2023-06-07T12:07:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-07T12:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationisrael.org.il\/en\/?post_type=report&p=4451"},"modified":"2023-08-15T12:18:52","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T12:18:52","slug":"the-climate-crisis","status":"publish","type":"report","link":"https:\/\/innovationisrael.org.il\/en\/report\/the-climate-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"The Climate Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The climate crisis is one of the largest challenges threatening our planet’s future and the future of mankind. The UNFCCC \u2013 the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change \u2013 designated national goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preventing man-made damage to the atmosphere. To meet these goals, the different countries and the corporate world must adopt different measures that will, in turn, increase the demand for innovative solutions in this field. Technology companies undoubtedly have a role to play in addressing the global climate crisis by developing tools, services and products aimed at contending with greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation) or with the impacts of global warming (adaptation) such as extreme weather events, a change in the precipitation regime etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a small country, Israel does not significantly influence the climate crisis as far as greenhouse gas emissions or its ability to eliminate the global crisis are concerned. But can Israel become a world leader in the development of technological climate-tech solutions and in assisting other countries?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To answer this question, the Innovation Authority conducted a preliminary study in an attempt to characterize the companies active in this field in Israel, 1<\/a><\/sup>An extensive mapping of this area is expected to be published by the Innovation Authority towards the end of 2023, that will include tools for measuring different ecosystems in climate-tech fields.<\/span> the problems to which they offer solution, and the trends of entrepreneurial activity in this area. The study revealed that 516 technology companies were active in Israel in the field of climate-tech as of Mar 2023. Furthermore, during the same period, 26 climate-tech companies were acquired or merged with other companies.2<\/a><\/sup>Methodology: fields of activity for technology companies in the field of climate-tech were defined for the purposes of the study presented in this report, including seven sectors that belong to the field of climate-tech and 30 subsectors. The various sectors were determined according to the accepted fields in Israel and around the world. The expanded list of sectors identified key words that describe companies which operate in each of them. The list of key words was checked by the startup databases of SNC and IVC on the list of Israeli technology companies that were active between 2018-2023. Based on this data, a list was created of 615 climate-tech companies that operated in the defined period, of which 516 are active, 64 have closed, 26 were acquired or merged with another company, and 9 companies whose status was unclear.<\/span> One example is the startup company Breezometer that engaged in the monitoring of environmental hazards and was acquired by Google in September 2022. During the last five years, 64 climate-tech companies operating in Israel closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Israeli climate-tech companies are active in a diverse range of fields. 24% of Israeli climate-tech companies operate in the field of energy, developing solutions for energy storage, renewable energy, energy efficiency and others; 37% of the Israeli climate-tech companies operate in the fields of agriculture, food, and water (approx. 16% in the field of food-tech \u2013 alternative proteins, food waste etc.); 11% of the companies operate in the field of water \u2013 desalinization, water resource management etc.; and 10% in the field of agri-tech \u2013 vertical farming, urban farming, agricultural biotech etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Together, these four fields represent over 60% of the technological activity in the field of climate-tch in Israel. The main fields in which the other companies operate are: 9% in environmental fields, 3<\/a><\/sup>Environmental fields \u2013 anything related to measurement of the current situation of the planet such as the weather, atmosphere etc.<\/span> and 8% in industrial fields, including the segment of materials.4<\/a><\/sup>Industry and materials \u2013 anything related to recycling, energy efficiency, manufacturing of new materials for construction etc.<\/span> In addition to the fields detailed above, climate-tech companies in Israel also operate in areas such as carbon trade, circular economy, smart transportation, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although climate-tech is generally regarded as a new category that grows as the climate crisis increasingly becomes the focus of international discussion, in some of the subsectors of this category, Israel is an established, veteran player. These include, among others, the fields of water, farming, agriculture, and energy. Because of the weather and geographical conditions that characterize Israel, technologies that solve problems in these areas have been at the center of local development for decades. The success stories exported from Israel in these subsectors include Netafim that developed drip-irrigation solutions, the solar energy company SolarEdge, and the veteran Ormat Technologies in the field of geothermal energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n