Israel’s State of Climate Tech 2021

O6

Opportunities & Barriers to Climate Tech in Israel

In this section we reflect on the existing and potential strengths of the Israeli climate ecosystem and the global impact of the various climate tech domains. We highlight a number of technologies that provide solutions to global climate challenges and in which Israel is well positioned. This list is by no means exhaustive, and there are certainly additional technologies that could, and should, be promoted. For example, green hydrogen – its availability, storage, distribution, and implementation – is a crucial component of current and envisioned transformations in the energy and transportation sector, as it enables high temperature processes, long duration energy storage, and long-haul heavy-duty transportation for which electrification is not a solution. Israel has a prolific academic community with research focused on electrolyzers and fuel

cells fromwhich a number of startups have emerged . Joint R&D and collaborations with international players (from academia and industry) could further promote this field. Carbon capture, storage, and utilization (CCUS) is another field considered a global imperative for reaching net zero emissions, mitigating temperature increases caused by carbon pumped into the atmosphere in the past, and for achieving deep decarbonization in the industrial sector as it transitions to lower emission processes. CCUS requires both capture from point sources as well as direct air capture (to date, there are only 15 direct air capture plants in the world), 16 and innovations that can progress to cost effective scale ups are essential. Israel’s point of departure is similar to most other countries, and success would have an immense global impact.

This unique expertise can act as a platformto accelerate climate tech startups and provides opportunities for AI companies to pivot towards advancing solutions to fight climate change

16 https://www.iea.org/reports/direct-air-capture, retrieved September 2021.

Israel’s State of Climate Tech 2O21 | 23