The "fall" 10 places back (from 22nd to 32nd), is due to the addition of the dimension of sustainability in long-term competitiveness * Valerie Barchia, director of the 2030 sustainability forecast project: Part of the "fall" is justified because we have to improve on air pollution, on inequality in society (Gini ) and meticulous enforcement of environmental laws.
Israel is ranked 32nd in the "Combined Index of International Competitiveness" - the index produced every year at the end of the Davos Conference by the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. In fact, Israel is ranked 22nd in the original index (GCI), but starting this year, an expansion was made to the original index, and sustainability considerations were introduced as part of the long-term competitiveness of countries. The introduction of this index "degrades" Israel to 32nd place, although still a high place.
This is actually an expansion of the "Integrated International Competitiveness Index" (GCI: Global Competitiveness Index), now called SCI (Sustaining Competitiveness Index). The GCI is a well-known index in the world, which describes a country's ability to compete in the global economic system through the assessment of factors that affect its productivity.
From the analysis of the above indices it appears that the leading countries in the world in the original index - the degree of competitiveness (according to the GCI index) are also characterized by a high degree of sustaining competitiveness (according to the SCI index). These are eight countries among the opening nine of the Competitiveness Index (GCI), in descending order starting from the first: Switzerland, Singapore, Sweden, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Japan. These countries take care to preserve their ability to compete. The USA is also in the opening nine but shows a weaker sustaining competitiveness.
Apart from Israel, only China is actually weakened in such a significant way in the transition between competitiveness without the sustainability component and competitiveness that takes into account the sustainability components.
On the other hand, countries like Norway, Austria, Australia and Chile actually improve their situation thanks to the introduction of the sustainability component.
The outstanding strength of the Nordic countries is related to their excellence in strict and strictly enforced environmental policies, and relatively good social cohesion (with the exception of problems of a high dependency ratio - the proportion of the non-working population that depends on the labor force). Japan's position stems from a strong environmental policy, and relatively successful management of natural resources.
The countries that close the table are mainly countries from Africa (Angola, Mozambique and Nigeria in the last places), some from Central and South America (Venezuela, Paraguay, and Nicaragua), and two from Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh). All of these are characterized by low social cohesion - due to high youth unemployment, inefficiency in the utilization of resources in the economy, and the deterioration of the environmental situation
"Israel is ranked relatively high in the Competitiveness Index (GCI) in 22nd place in the world (out of 140 countries), while in the last year it has climbed two places in the ranking. This points to an impressive success in the management of the economy in the short term" explains Valerie Barchia, manager of the 2030 sustainability forecast project of the Jerusalem Institute and the Ministry of Environmental Protection "However, when you also take into account the elements of the Sustaining Competitiveness Index (SCI), Israel "falls" in the ranking in 10 or more places. Which raises the question: does this combined index indicate a high competitive ability for the short term only? Does this ability come at the expense of long-term competitive ability, and at the expense of social and environmental resources?"
Uri Gonen, a researcher in the project, points out that there are several indicators that explain the drop in ranking. Areas in which Israel is weaker: social inequality expressed in a high Gini index for inequality in the distribution of income which is a large difference between the poor and the rich in disposable income. Israel is also weak in the field of international cooperation because it is not attached to or implements enough international environmental treaties and there is not enough diligence in enforcing environmental regulations.
"However," notes Gonen, "an examination of other elements in the index in which Israel is given a low rating shows that some of them do not express the current situation that exists in Israel now, or are not relevant.
For example, Israel is considered "weak" in terms of total water sources due to over-pumping, but the index values are from 1995, and do not take into account the increase in the supply of drinking water through desalination or the reuse of wastewater for agriculture.
The index compares the unemployment rate at young ages (15-24), but does not take into account that a high percentage of young people at these ages are still studying, serving in the IDF or in the civil service. Israel is considered to be in a low place in the context of over-exploitation of renewable water sources by the agricultural sector, but there is no reference to the unprecedented widespread use of wastewater for irrigation in agriculture, and the index does not refer to food yield per unit of water. And on another level, Israel is measured in a low place in the proportion of protected marine and terrestrial natural areas. Although in Israel a relatively high percentage of the land area (about 18%) is designated as an area for conservation, a very small area is designated for conservation in the area of territorial waters (less than half a percent).
"In light of the points explained above and Israel's high ranking according to the GCI, we would expect that the drop in Israel's ranking according to the SCI would be more moderate."
"At the same time," says Valerie Barchia, "as it appears from a comparison with other countries in the world, Israel's performance can be substantially improved in several components, especially in the long term, in order to be both competitive and sustainable. Recommendations for improvement will include: joining international conventions, improving environmental regulation, and taking steps to reduce the anthropogenic contribution to the rate of respirable particles. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide, will improve with the transition to natural gas energy production and if substantial steps are taken for energy efficiency and energy saving"
