Israel Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in israel, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Environmental Technologies
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Overview

Israel has overcome water scarcity through innovative solutions, making it a global leader in water management. Despite being in a dry region, Israel ensures abundant water supply through large-scale desalination facilities, which provide approximately 80% of its water consumption. The country has also developed advanced sewage treatment systems, reclaiming about 90% of its wastewater—one of the highest rates worldwide. These efforts have enabled Israel to sustain a thriving agricultural sector comparable to water-rich nations. Additionally, Israel has fostered a robust domestic water technologies industry, further solidifying its position as a pioneer in water resource management. Nevertheless, due to a prolonged draught period, dwindling natural water resources, rapid population growth, and ongoing geo-political challenges, Israel must ensure its continued self-sufficiency. To address these issues, the Israeli government plans to invest further in new desalination facilities, remediate polluted groundwater, and enhance its water infrastructure. 

Israel’s waste treatment industry is underdeveloped, with approximately 80% of its waste being sent to landfill, and only 20% to recycling, a situation that has seen little improvement over the past two decades. This leads to environmental hazards such as groundwater and air pollution. Furthermore, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MOEP) cautions that Israel is quickly approaching full capacity of its current landfills. To tackle this unsustainable status quo, the MOEP announced in 2021 a strategic plan to transform Israel’s waste treatment industry. The ultimate goal is a transition by 2050 from Israel’s current, resource-consuming linear economy into a circular economy, which strives for minimum waste production and maximum efficiency in the use of resources. MOEP’s short-term goals for 2030 are to recycle 54% of the waste (compared to 20% in 2020), create the necessary infrastructure for separation at source, and establish sorting facilities that will process 100% of the waste while reducing landfill disposal to 20% (from 80% in 2020).

Furthermore, in line with Israel’s commitments to the Paris Agreement, in July 2021, the Israeli government updated its 2015 greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction goal to 27% decrease in GHG emission levels by 2030, using 2015 as the base year. As part of this decision, the government commits to reducing GHG emissions originating from solid waste by 47% until 2030, and by 92% until 2050, using 2015 as the base year. Additionally, the government commits to reduction of 71% in municipal solid waste sent to landfill by 2030, compared to 2018.

Leading Sub-sectors 

Leading sub-sectors for U.S. companies include Water Infrastructure, Groundwater Treatment, and Waste Treatment and Recycling. 

Specifically, drilling water wells and tunneling services, water infrastructure design services, groundwater treatment technologies and services, and waste treatment technologies and services, are all viable opportunities for U.S. exporters.

Opportunities

Water

In February 2025, Israel’s Water Authority released a long-term plan outlining forecasts for the country’s rapidly growing water demand. The plan sets out ambitious goals, major infrastructure projects, and numerous smaller projects, offering a range of opportunities for international partners. It is currently pending government approval and is expected to be brought forward for approval later in 2025.

This new plan reflects a meticulous planning process building on the 2018 national strategic water plan, which was developed in response to a five-year drought. Its aim is to ensure Israel’s preparedness for extreme weather events, prolonged droughts, and potential security risks.

The following are key components of Israel’s plans for the water sector, which present viable opportunities for U.S. exporters:

  • Desalination: The planned construction of a new desalination plant, “Emek Hefer” (currently in the pre-tender stage, with the pre-qualification phase expected to open later in 2025), is expected to add 400 million cubic meters (MCM) of capacity. In addition, the expansion of the existing “Ashkelon” desalination facility will contribute another 220 MCM, increasing Israel’s total annual desalination capacity from 587 MCM in 2023 to more than 1200 MCM. By 2050, the required desalinated water is projected to reach 2,000 MCM, and by 2075, 3,200 MCM. After significant delays, the “Sorek B” desalination plant (awarded in 2020) began operations in March 2025, adding 200 MCM to the country’s capacity. The “Western Galilee” desalination plant, still under construction, is expected to begin operations in early 2027, contributing an additional 100 MCM.
  • Connecting to the national water conduit system: New desalination plants will need to be connected to the national water conduit system. Infrastructure projects related to connecting the Western Galilee plant are valued at $144-300 million. Israel also plans to connect remote locations in the country to the national conduit system to increase reliability of water supply.
  • Turnkey well-drilling projects: Approximately 400 wells are planned by 2050, with a total estimated value of $797 million.
  • Domestic and regional water infrastructure upgrades: As part of the Water Authority’s plans, multiple design and construction projects are planned, including drilling, pumping stations, pipelines, tanks, reservoirs, water treatment, cathodic protection, and more. Beyond meeting domestic water needs, Israel intends to increase water sales to Jordan under the “Project Prosperity” agreement. According to the latest plan, a large desalination plant on the Mediterranean coast will provide additional water to both Israel and Jordan.
  • Other opportunities: Groundwater remediation, laying water pipes, and digital transformation projects are also viable opportunities for U.S. exporters of equipment, technologies, and services.

Recycling

As of 2020, Israel sends approximately 80% of its waste to landfill, while only 20% is recycled. The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MOEP) aims to transition by 2050 from Israel’s current, resource-consuming linear economy to a circular economy, which strives to minimize waste production and maximize resource efficiency. MOEP’s short-term goals for 2030 are to recycle 54% of the waste (compared to 20% in 2020), create the necessary infrastructure for separation at source and sorting facilities that will process 100% of the waste, while reducing landfill disposal to 20% (from 80% in 2020). 

To meet these 2030 goals, MOEP estimates that 7-10 new sorting facilities will be required to handle dry, recyclable waste (which makes up about 39% of total waste) in addition to the five facilities already operating, and the six facilities that are under development. Dry waste material that cannot be recycled will be transferred to energy recovery facilities where possible, or otherwise landfilled. Lastly, the MOEP plans to process organic waste (which constitutes 43% of total waste) in biological treatment facilities, where it will undergo further sorting, and then sent to composting and anaerobic digestion systems.

Israel’s first waste-to-energy facility, “Neot Hovav”, began construction in 2025 and is expected to process 300,000 tons of waste annually, with the option to expand capacity to 500,000 tons. Two additional facilities are planned, one in Jerusalem and another in southern Israel, each designed to treat 650,000 tons of waste per year. Both projects are currently in the pre-tender stage, with the pre-qualification phase anticipated in 2025–2026.

Environmental Infrastructure Projects

The current scope of infrastructure investment in Israel is lower than comparable countries around the world. To address this gap, the Israeli government is planning large scale infrastructure projects across almost all industries, and publishes the multi-year Infrastructure for Growth workplan, a national infrastructure strategy consolidating all projects valued at more than 100 million shekels (~$30 million) that are either in progress, budgeted or approved by the government. The 2025 workplan includes 270 projects, valued at $151 billion in total, across many industries including several projects in the environmental sector. A significant portion of the projects will be implemented via a public-private partnership (PPP) model.

R&D

U.S.-Israeli joint R&D and cooperation in the environmental technologies sector is growing, particularly in cleantech and water. The BIRD Foundation supports joint U.S.-Israel commercial R&D in this industry and normally publishes new calls for proposals annually.

Resources

For additional information, please contact Commercial Assistant Alla Polotsky at Alla.Polotsky@trade.gov.  

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