"New Horizons" -  Sustainable Production and Consumption

New Horizons is a new Heschel Center initiative which aims to raise awareness of the importance and methods of sustainable energy production and consumption amongst government agencies, media, civil society and the business sector in Israel.

The New Horizons project, developed in collaboration with the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy [1], aims to promote the integration of sustainable energy into public sector policy, both on national and local levels. The Heschel Center’s New Horizons team is headed by Dr. Lia Ettinger, one of the leading experts of sustainability in Israel. Other team members include Orli Ronen, head of the Local Sustainability Center, Dr. Shahar Dolev, who specializes in ecological economics, and Eyal Biger, who specializes in sustainable energy.

The New Horizons team plans to utilize the experience of the Wuppertal Institute to encourage Israel to take part in the Marrakech Process [2] - the international collective effort to develop a ten-year framework programme on sustainable consumption and production as required by the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation signed at the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in 2002. Israel is not yet part of this Process.

The workplan for New Horizons this year will include: undertaking a literature review and study of innovative models for sustainable energy procurement and awareness-raising of the importance of sustainable production and consumption; mapping the market of relevant energy-related products and relevant stakeholders among government and local authority officials, businesses, members of civil society organizations and academics; and convening conferences, meetings, and a Steering Committee. in preparation for implementation of sustainable energy consumption patterns and programs in Israel.