Israel’s ratification of international agreements to reduce carbon emissions does not oblige it to have any concrete, national emission-reduction targets, the state told the High Court on Sunday, in response to the country’s first petition against its policy on climate change.

International law does not demand full certainty to achieve the target, but rather “continuous effort to meet it, with the emphasis on continuous effort and proper diligence, not necessarily on meeting the target itself,” it said.

Addressing the landmark Paris climate deal, signed in 2015, it cited Article 4, focusing on its references to “common but differentiated responsibilities,” “respective capabilities,” and the “different national circumstances of every state.”

The response further charged that there was no justification for the court’s intervention in the state’s climate-goal decisions.

The petition, against the government and the ministers of Environmental Protection, Energy, and Health, was submitted by two NGOs, Green Course and Youth Climate Protest, and first discussed by a panel of three judges in February.

At that hearing, the lawyer for the petitioners, Assaf Fink, charged that there was an internal contradiction between the international community’s goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 43 percent by 2030 and the government’s target for the same date of 27%.

Fink also accused the government of reneging on its election promise to pass a climate law within six........

© The Times of Israel