(Hai Pe) – The most polluting factories for the years 2022-23. The environmental impact index is a significant tool for environmental activity and for drawing conclusions for the factories themselves on how to act further and improve the system in order to lower the threshold of environmental damage. The factories receive a score based on control and monitoring points that include sampling on the fence, at a certain distance from the factory and data transmitted from the factory. From measurements in the chimneys. The annual reports include malfunctions and also a positive score for a factory that invests in promoting and improving the system. The index reflects environmental risks to the public on the one hand and on the other hand leads to investments and improvement of the factories.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection publishes the Environmental Impact Index for 2022–2023, which ranks the ten factories with the most negative environmental impact in Israel. At the top of the red list are three major factories: Ashdod Refinery, ICL Rotem and oil refineries (BAZN)The index, published for the 12th consecutive year, is intended to make reliable information available to the public on the degree of environmental risk posed by publicly or government-owned industrial plants.
A public tool for exposing environmental risks in the industrial sector
The Environmental Impact Index of the Ministry of Environmental Protection examines the level of environmental risk resulting from the activities of over 120 large industrial plants belonging to 46 public and government companies. This is a comparative index that ranks the companies according to criteria of air pollution, pollutant emissions, operational failures, enforcement procedures, financial sanctions, and more. The higher the ranking, the greater the negative impact on the environment.
Minister Silman: “The public has the right to know what the environmental risk is”
Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman emphasized the importance of the index as a tool for making environmental information accessible to the general public and to decision-makers in the capital market. According to her, environmental risk is not only a danger to public health and quality of life, but also an important economic consideration for investors. The ministry is working to establish a new digital information system that will consolidate all environmental enforcement data and make it available to the public.
Ashdod Refinery at the Top of the List: Emissions, Sanctions, and Hearings
in the first place The 2023 index includes the Ashdod Refinery – which also received the highest rating for negative environmental impact in 2022. The plant suffered financial sanctions due to black smoke emissions and pollutant releases, and was subject to hearing procedures due to exceptions in the emission of hazardous substances such as benzene and sulfur oxides. In addition, violations of reporting obligations and operational exceptions were discovered. Since August 2023, the plant has been operating as an independent public company after being split from Paz.
ICL Rotem: Delays in rehabilitation, wastewater and air emissions
In second place The ICL Rotem plant was ranked, up from third place in the previous index. In 2023, it was fined for delaying the submission of a rehabilitation plan for a gypsum waste site, and an incident of leachate discharge to the ground was recorded. In addition, enforcement orders were issued for violations of wastewater emissions into the air and soil pollution, and the plant accumulated a negative score due to numerous emissions recorded over three consecutive years.
Oil refineries (BAZN): leaks, anomalies and marine pollution
In third place The index includes the Haifa Refineries (BAZN), whose position in the index dropped one place compared to last year. The plant received a negative score due to a benzene leak, irregularities in pollutant emissions into the sea and air, a hearing following a hydrogen gas leak, and even a criminal conviction for a fire and malfunctioning hazardous tanks.
Shafadun: Jump in ranking following formaldehyde violations
Shafdan – Regional Sewage Services, came in fourth place in the 2023 index after ranking only 13th in 2022. Almost half of the score it received was due to wastewater discharges to agriculture and formaldehyde emission abnormalities as a result of poor operation. However, the ministry notes that the plant acted to correct the violations immediately after they were discovered.
Carmel Olefins and Dead Sea maintain their place in the index
Carmel Olefins ranked fifth in the 2023 index, mainly due to emissions from three steam boilers. The Dead Sea plants remained in sixth place in the ranking, with a 65% increase in score compared to the 2021 index - partly due to a serious incident of Dead Sea water leaking into the ground in 2022.
Tamar platform: Sharp increase in index following operational malfunctions
The Tamar rig ranks seventh, up nine places from the previous index. In the past two years, the rig has experienced numerous failures – including hydraulic fluid spills into the sea, methanol leaks, maintenance and monitoring issues, and violations of ongoing reporting. Hearings were held and notices were sent to the site operators following the failures.
The index as an economic pillar in a global investment market
The index, prepared with the assistance of DHVMED, is part of a global trend of disclosing environmental information as a tool for making financial decisions. According to OECD and Bloomberg data, over $40 trillion in financial assets are currently managed based on ESG considerations – environment, society and corporate governance. Forecasts indicate an increase to $50 trillion by 2025, which indicates the growing importance of environmental information in the capital market. The Israeli index contributes to this process by being a reliable source of information for investors, regulators and the public.
Global Warming – The Next Target of the Ministry of Environmental Protection
Alongside the publication of the Environmental Impact Index, Minister Idit Silman emphasized the importance of dealing with global warming. According to her, the ministry aims to promote the enactment of the Climate Law in the coming years, which will set binding targets for reducing polluting emissions and encourage the use of green energy solutions.
The minister noted that one of the main challenges is reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which increase the greenhouse effect: these gases absorb heat radiation and emit it back to the Earth's surface, thereby raising the global temperature beyond normal levels.
“We are committed not only to exposing the polluters,” said Silman, “but also to acting decisively for a healthier environmental future – for us, our children, and future generations.”
The goal of the Hagens office in the near future is to enact the climate law, promote green energies and activities to prevent the increasing warming of the planet. Reducing greenhouse gases that absorb radiation and emit it back to the Earth, thus contributing to a higher temperature than it should have been and are another factor in global warming.
The Climate Law establishes, for the first time in Israel, binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions for 2030. Along with control mechanisms, planning and cooperation between government agencies, local authorities, experts and public representatives. The target for 2030 will be 27%. Another goal is to promote the issue of green energy and any activity that will reduce global warming.
But it's critical, critical, urgent, and it won't be delayed in dealing with global warming.
The only question left is: Are all polluting factories essential to the country's economy and security?
Yes…because relying on imports during wartime would already be in this bad movie.
Just as they drained the Gulf port, they must dry up infrastructure and remove all fuels from inhabited areas. Urgently evacuate the oil field and clear the land for a new city of a quarter of a million residents, which will make Haifa the second largest city in Israel.
The petrochemical plants and refineries are a huge, huge damage to Haifa, right in the throat, sitting in the heart of Haifa and preventing the natural development and connection between the suburbs and Haifa, which everywhere in the world was the center of the metropolis and the most sought-after place. Like every city in the world, there is the Kishon, beautiful streets with trees on both sides of the Kishon and an urban district full of restaurants on the riverbank. This is what we want to see instead of chimneys and giant fuel tanks.
We deserve a city that will recover from the polluting fuel industries. The only solution is to move all these industries beyond the breakwaters in Haifa Bay, dry up storage space for all the fuel tanks, and move the refineries to Gaza south of Ashkelon.
There is no other choice. Haifa will continue to be the city with the largest exodus in the country of residents moving out to nearby cities because how much pollution can we tolerate in the clouds? To Nesher. To Romema. To Hadar Elyon. From Bnei Zion Hospital, we see gray clouds over the refineries coming straight to our nostrils.
Are you serious?? Near Gaza?? The residents of the south are second class in your opinion??