The struggle to repair petrochemical facilities and keep them in northern Israel’s Haifa Bay is an example of a greater battle waged by the Trump administration on behalf of fossil fuel companies worldwide
Zafrir Rinat October 06 2025
Aided by leaders who deny the climate crisis and branding itself as an essential industry that Israel cannot exist without, the fossil fuel industry is striving to ensure that there will be no limits on the production and burning of oil, natural gas, and coal in the future.
It is an attempt to play both sides – on the one hand, supporting any leader who rejects reducing fossil fuel use to address the climate crisis; and on the other, presenting the fossil fuel industry as a vital source for the development of renewable energies.
In his speech at the UN General Assembly last month, U.S. President Donald Trump described the climate crisis as a hoax and dismissed renewable energies and the clean alternative they provide to the world. Trump’s words are aimed at the ears of policymakers and politicians in Western countries, most of whom promote clear climate policies.
A good example of how Trump is succeeding can be found in the statement by Camille Bednock, leader of the Conservative Party in Britain, where she said a government led by her would cancel the United Kingdom’s commitment to zero carbon emissions and instead implement “a policy of safe and reliable energy production.”
In this state of affairs, where the U.S. is leading efforts to torpedo the fight for the climate, it is precisely China – the world’s largest polluter in terms of greenhouse gas emissions – that is becoming the great hope of supporters of the necessary change. China is in the midst of a rapid transformation of its electricity economy in favor of the use of solar panels and wind turbines; it is developing and pushing forward the renewable energy industry and lowering the cost of its products all over the world; and it is not changing – at least not for now – its assessments of a zero-carbon future.
As for fossil fuels themselves, their production is becoming more complex and expensive. According to a report recently published by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the rate of depletion of some oil and gas reserves in the ground has accelerated, and large investments will be required to develop new ones.
Most of the available oil and gas will continue to come from the Middle East, Russia, and Africa in the years to come. At the same time, the agency barely mentions the climate crisis in its report, while more and more reports and studies continue to be published around the world about the dangerous effects and consequences of climate change. About two weeks ago, the German Potsdam Institute warned that as a result of the increase in carbon concentration in the sea, its acidity level has risen beyond the threshold defined as safe for marine animals.
The polluting energy industry continues to work to preserve its freedom of action on all fronts, including the scenario in which progress continues in implementing policies that develop renewable energies, powered by fossil fuels. For its part, one of the main justifications for the continued use of these fuels is that they are the basis for the petrochemical industry, which provides essential products to many sectors. Israel is a prominent example of the implementation of this approach, due to the threat posed to refineries because of the government’s decision to close them by 2030.
Last month, the CEO of the Israel Institute for Energy and Environment, Yossi Aryeh, published an article titled “Changes in the Global Energy Economy Require the Development of the Petrochemical Industry in Haifa,” in which he claims that the global reality poses a “fascinating paradox that requires rethinking.” Despite talk of a green revolution and the adoption of renewable energies, Aryeh claims that the demand for petrochemical products is actually growing, and the reason for this is that wind turbines, batteries for electric vehicles, and solar panels require advanced materials that are produced exclusively by the petrochemical industry.
The Israel Institute for Energy and Environment is a joint body of fuel companies, refineries, various types of energy transmission companies, and the chemical industry. In the article, Aryeh argues that it would be a strategic mistake to close the petrochemical industry worldwide, and in the Haifa Bay in particular. In his opinion, instead of closing the refineries, they should be adapted to the new era and turned into an engine for the growth of innovative materials for the Green Revolution.
This means perpetuating an activity that significantly contributes to the worsening of the climate situation. In addition, in the current reality, the petrochemical industry in Israel does not produce renewable energy products such as wind turbines or solar panels, because they are imported from other countries.
On the other hand, from a global perspective, alternatives will indeed need to be found for the development of renewable energy products. The petrochemical industry provides the plastic products that are essential for battery storage, as well as various types of engineered polymers, various chemicals, and carbon fibers that are used as components inside turbine blades and solar panels. Therefore, in this sense, the paradox described by Aryeh still constitutes a technological and scientific challenge.
The National Institute for Climate and Environmental Policy at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, of course, has a completely different position from that of the polluting energy industry. In a position paper from last month, the institute defines the shutdown of the refineries in Haifa Bay following an Iranian missile strike as a strategic window of opportunity for reshaping Israel’s energy policy.
The paper, which sought to advance the discussion on building a new power plant at the Haifa Bay facilities to replace the one damaged in the war, states that the issue should not be separated from the overall discussion on energy production policy. This policy, according to the institute, requires a shift to electricity production from renewable energies. Action should be taken in this direction, instead of investing in the rehabilitation of polluting infrastructure that exacerbates the climate crisis.
Related Articles
- Israel’s gas supply is running out. Without a feasible plan, it may face an energy crisis Idan Binyamin
- EU warns of ‘serious blow’ from Trump on climate change Reuters
- The Jerusalem wildfires are no surprise, but Israel ignored all warnings Nir Hasson
Meanwhile, it seems that the petrochemical industry in Israel is managing to receive support for its long-term continuation. Last week, the National Planning and Building Council approved the construction of the new power plant in the refinery complex. In its decision, the council noted that it was not convinced that there was another alternative to supply electricity to the refineries, whose operations are still essential, and wrote that the construction of the plant should not delay the plan to close down the refineries.
This promise is, of course, far from reassuring for environmental organizations or the Haifa municipality, which wait impatiently for the disappearance of the industrial facilities from the area.