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Israeli tech helps tackle Australian climate challenges

Sharon Berger
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Published: 6 January 2023

Last updated: 5 March 2024

While official environmental cooperation between Israel and Australia is limited, local companies are adopting Israeli technology across a broad range of areas.

Israel’s climate-tech ecosystem is growing rapidly, with more than 700 start-ups delivering innovative technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support the adaption to climate change. Today, almost one in seven startups in Israel is in the climate-tech field.

In the first half of this year, the Israeli climate-tech sector raised $A1.7billion in 50 deals, more than double the funds raised in the first half of 2021. In the past two years, investments in the sector have grown 2.5 times faster than the global investment rate.

Israeli companies have long been global leaders in the desalination and irrigation fields. Today, they are fast becoming frontrunners in the alternative proteins market, as well as water-tech and solar power.

Despite similar environments and climate challenges, official environmental cooperation between Israel and Australia is limited. To help meet their net-zero climate goals and introduce efficiencies, Australian companies are increasingly adopting Israeli climate technology in areas ranging from improved aeration systems (Mapal) to compostable packaging solutions (TIPA) and much more.

In 2017, the then environment and energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, signed a joint declaration of intent on environmental cooperation with Ze’ev Elkin, then Israel’s minister of environmental protection “to promote bilateral cooperation in the field of environmental protection and sharing of knowledge and experience between both countries”.

The lack of government collaboration has not stopped the growth in commercial cooperation driving the environmental collaboration success stories between Israel and Australia.

Five years later, there has been little progress. However, many in the climate field believe that a little government support, particularly in the form of financial incentives, could go a long way in expanding cooperation.

Steven Morton, Director of South Australia based water consultancy H2Orizons, suggests that rather than both countries focusing on a long-discussed free trade agreement, they would be better off facilitating a funding mechanism for joint research and development, similar to the highly successful BIRD (Binational Industrial Research and Development) Foundation that exists between the US and Israel.

Established in 1977, BIRD provides matchmaking support between US and Israeli companies, as well as joint government funding for up to 50% of project development costs, at up to $US1million a project. BIRD supports about 20 projects annually and its cumulative sales of products now exceed $US10bn

This this kind of collaboration would drive the economic relationship between Australia and Israel and promote joint research that could compete globally, Morton says. The minimal seed funding required of $1m-$2.5m per project is relatively small compared to the potential benefits.

The lack of government collaboration has not stopped the growth in commercial cooperation driving the environmental collaboration success stories between Israel and Australia. This has been fuelled by business targets to reduce emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.

The European market is very fragmented. Not all countries have the same water awareness. We see more growth opportunities in Australia

Takadu CEO Amir Peleg

Australia is the single largest market for some Israeli companies, like cloud-based software water management system company Takadu, which has been operating in Australia for over a decade. Takadu, which works with water utility companies, is looking to expand its capabilities to include smart meters and sewage detection. About a third of its business is based in Australia.

“The European market is very fragmented. Not all countries have the same water awareness. We see more growth opportunities in Australia,” Takadu CEO Amir Peleg told The Jewish Independent.

Australians are so finely tuned to water scarcity issues due to major droughts that they were one of the early adopters of Takadu’s data analytics technology. Peleg believes that “solving water problems is important to both the people and the market,” adding that “need is the mother of innovation”.

The sentiment that water utilities in Australia are progressive and work to high international standards is echoed by Morton. Peleg concurs: “Compared to other countries Australia is ahead in both technology and regulation.”

The federal government has forced regional councils to merge water assets to be more efficient, increasing transparency and pressure across the industry to maximise water usage. Annual lists are published showing each utility’s water usage and those with the highest water loss are keen to adopt technologies like Takadu’s.

Neotop's TopUp Ball system (Neotop)
Neotop's TopUp Ball system (Neotop)

Despite the vast distance, time difference and even Covid, Takadu has found it easy to operate in Australia. Because its product is entirely cloud-based, not only was it not impacted by Covid, but with more people working from home, training could be done virtually and Takadu could do its data analysis via remote monitoring.

“Most cases are quite straightforward, and we know that if we sign a five-year contract it will be a decent contract with good terms,” Peleg says. “It’s a stable environment where the vendor will deliver and won’t go bankrupt.”

While some companies find the time difference between Israel and Australia challenging, Takadu customer TasWater believes it’s beneficial. “While we are asleep, Israel is working on solutions. Then we trial their solutions while Israel is asleep. This gives us lots of opportunity to tweak things along the way and ends up being more efficient”, says TasWater CEO George Theo.

Theo previously worked with Takadu for over nine years when running Queensland-based Unitywater and found no barriers to working with the Israeli-based company.

Having seen a demonstration of Takadu’s capabilities with Yarra Valley Water, Theo was impressed. It took only six months to recoup the company’s investment and six weeks to implement. Takadu’s greatest feature is its ability to find leaks that don’t come to the surface, thereby reducing leakage and saving water, he explains.

Despite recent flooding in NSW, saving water is becoming more urgent than ever as global demand is predicted to surplus supply by 40% by 2030. There are many other innovative Israeli water technology companies addressing this anticipated shortfall. In Australia, they include the following:

Watergen, which creates high quality drinking water out of humidity in the air, has been used by the federal Government’s disaster assistance response teams (DART), generating up to 800 litres a day for local communities during disasters such as fires, floods and cyclones.

Neotop’s TopUp Ball system reduces evaporation by 94% while cooling water, maintaining high water quality, reducing algae growth, preserving a healthy ecosystem and deterring birds. Its technology has allowed cotton farmers to save water and generate additional revenue with fish farming. The TopUp Balls protect fish from low temperatures, cool water for cattle, improve water quality and make dam water last three to six times longer, reducing the risk of drought.

Photo: Tasmania's Gordon Dam (Wikipedia)

About the author

Sharon Berger

Sharon Berger is the Events & Partnerships Manager at TJI. Sharon is a former journalist for The Jerusalem Post, Reuters, the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Australian Jewish News.

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