Restoring Natural Resources

Israel is a biodiversity hotspot due to its unique location at the intersection of three continents. The country includes extensive coastlines on the Mediterranean and Red Sea, as well as multiple climate zones. It is also a part of a global migratory bird route. Within Israel, the Dead Sea region is a unique desert environment. ICL Dead Sea has worked in the past few years to minimize its environmental footprint. \

ICL Dead Sea is working to minimize its environmental footprint and to restore, as much as possible, open areas that have been environmentally and ecologically disturbed. ICL Dead Sea is working on the cultivation of new ecological habitats, such as the nearby salt marsh. It is also promoting a project to reduce bird electrification from high voltage power lines and in touch with experts from Israel Electric Company regarding this issue.

Eliminating Invasive Species

As part of the National Dead Sea development plan, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) is leading a project to eliminate invasive species. The goal of the project is to restore and protect the biodiversity of the region by attempting to eliminate invasive plant species that have overtaken native flora. ICL Dead Sea is taking an active role in the program and has launched, in collaboration with the INPA, a multi-stage project to eliminate invasive vegetation species at the site, and to contribute to biodiversity preservation.

ICL Dead Sea initiated a project, with the assistance and guidance of the INPA, that is committed to uprooting invasive plant species which are found on the facility’s grounds and along Route 90 (mostly Washingtonia fan palms and mesquite).

Reducing Light Pollution @ ICL Dead Sea

Artificial light enables ICL to work around the clock, but it also creates biodiversity challenges due to artificially illuminating the surroundings. The effect of artificial illumination on the natural environment is known as “light pollution”. Illuminated areas that are close to the production sites, threaten the ecological balance, and could disturb animals and disrupt biological processes that occur only at night. Reducing light pollution could be a simple matter, such as eliminating or switching off unnecessary illumination, reducing the intensity of lighting installations, restricting hours of use, or selecting different types of illumination, such as focused torches instead of lighting with ball symmetry.

ICL Dead Sea’s production sites are located in a panoramic and ecologically sensitive region, and therefore it is important to reduce its effect on the environment and ecosystems. In recent years, ICL Dead Sea has been addressing the challenge of reducing light pollution in several ways:

Changing lighting fixtures from mercury and HPS lights to LED lights
Ensuring that the angle of light of a LED fixture does not exceed 120 degrees, as opposed to other light fixtures that may reach 360 degrees
Altering lighting systems in open areas so that they are activated by a motion sensor
Drilling yards, previously illuminated throughout the night, have now been darkened. Any lighting required for emergency maintenance work at night (a rare occurrence), can be switched on either remotely or on site. The initiative, spanning 40 drilling yards in the Sdom area, was implemented in collaboration with the INPA
Darkening drilling yards in open areas, reduces their light pollution, as well as energy costs

Reducing Water Consumption

ICL is a major water producer. It withdraws salty water from wells for desalination and industrial uses. ICL Dead Sea has embarked on a multi-year water reduction initiative aimed at reducing water consumption. Learn more about our water initiatives.

Land Rehabilitation & Restoration

The southern portion of the ICL Dead Sea site encompasses 36,000 hectares in the Judean Desert near the Dead Sea. This area contains distinctive panoramic, geological, and historical attributes, some of which have been impacted by ICL Dead Sea’s quarrying, mining, and drilling activities, as well as other factors unrelated to the Company. ICL Dead Sea has initiated and is engaged in various rehabilitation and restoration projects within its concession area. The Company continues its efforts to minimize its environmental footprint.

ICL is also working on restoration projects with partners such as the Tamar Regional Council, The Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. Projects include a restoration plan at the Heimar Stream Estuary, providing organized safe access to open public areas, and conservation of the Sdom Saltmarsh Lake (including making it accessible to the general public).

Circular Economy Pilot – Clearing Waste by Recycling Metals Back to ICL DS

ICL Dead Sea will be piloting with Ordan Industries Metal Casting on a unique recycling project. Currently used metal parts are sold to metal recyclers. Some of the sorting occurs in Israel and the metal is then sent to Europe for the recycling process.

The pilot that ICL Dead Sea will be testing is one in which an Israeli metal casting company will directly collect used metal parts from the site, then will recycle and recast necessary parts for ICL Dead Sea. This will provide multiple environmental benefits: clearing old metal holding areas, reducing logistics and reducing scope 3 emissions.

Bokek Stream

Water flowing through the Bokek Stream has become salty in recent decades. Due to the ecological importance of the area, ICL Dead Sea, in cooperation with Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority, provides for fresh water to flow through the stream and for clearing the salt water, and transferring it out of the stream.

In March 2018, an application for certification of a claim as a class action was filed with the Be’er Sheva District Court. According to the claim, ICL Rotem have allegedly caused continuous, severe, and extreme environmental hazards through pollution of the “Judea group – Zafit formation” groundwater aquifer and the Ein Bokek spring with industrial wastewater. In April 2022, the District Court dismissed the application due to statute of limitations and property rights. In June 2022, the plaintiffs filed an appeal to Israel’s Supreme Court against the district court’s decision.

Restoration of Areas Disturbed by ICL Dead Sea’s Activity in the Concession Area

Over the past several decades, ICL Dead Sea has carried out various earthworks in open areas that are a part of the Company’s concession area, to support its production facilities. These resulted in various environmental disruptions and hazards which in recent years ICL Dead Sea has resolved to address by restoration, in collaboration with the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. ICL is working to reduce its impact and restore disturbed areas. Activities include reducing damage to existing flora, minimizing the use of barbed wire fences to reduce possible harm to wild animals, ecological remediation of moist spots and water holes which are crucial in the desert environment, and many more initiatives.

By Geoteva

Before

After Land Rehabilitation & Restoration

before

After Land Rehabilitation & Restoration

The Arava Stream and The Adjacent Brine Flow Channel

The Arava stream canyon acts as a natural border between Israel and the Kingdom of Jordan. It begins south of ICL Dead Sea’s most southern evaporation pond and continues between the Jordanian evaporation ponds to the east, ICL Dead Sea’s ponds to the west, and from there continues north towards its end in the northern basin of the Dead Sea.

The Arava stream canyon meanders in a buffer area between the Israeli and Jordanian facilities where their brine water is discharged, following mineral extraction.

The discharge of brines to the stream by ICL Dead Sea is transparently and continuously reported to the authorities and conducted according to publicly available permits. It should be noted that due to this flow of brine back to the Dead Sea, ICL Dead Sea needs to pump more water from the Dead Sea. In addition, there is another adjacent brine flow channel, where seeping brines from ICL Dead Sea’s Pond 5 are collected. The brine flow channel is well-known, and the authorities are familiar with it. Many observation visits of this area have been conducted, including by helicopter, as entry to this hazardous area (due to old land mines) is prohibited.

In the late 1970s, the northern basin, which is natural and deep, and the southern basin, which is shallow and contains ICL Dead Sea’s evaporation ponds, became severed. The buffer area between the northern and southern basins transformed into a dried-up seabed, a hazardous area due to the prevalence of sinkholes and land mines strewn throughout it. As a result of the decreasing water level in the northern basin and growing height differences, the Arava stream and the adjacent brine flow channel have both eroded. The erosion has become more significant due to the decreasing level of the Dead Sea, which uncovered geological phenomena that the authorities would like to preserve.

"Salt Wall" — Implementing a Circular Economy in Infrastructure

Arava River serves as a natural border between Israel and Jordan in Dead Sea region. Unprotected, the area was prone to vulnerabilities and various threats. For years many intruders exploited the situation, mainly for criminal activity and contraband, or to find work.

Following a status request from the IDF regarding the situation, ICL Dead Sea presented the possibility of erecting a salt wall opposite the border with Jordan. A salt wall would make efficient use of surplus salt that is piled in the area, which is a byproduct of ICL’s production process. It would also act as a barrier that would contribute to security needs in the region.

The salt wall forms a natural and innovative engineering barrier that contributes to Israel’s security, using a salt byproduct that fits the area’s landscape. The wall is about 3 meters high on the Israeli side (above the current level of the dikes). Once the wall is complete, it will extend for 36 kilometers.

The site's engineering staff, and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) staff are supervising the project, and the Nature and Parks Authority will approve every stage of it in order to prevent damages to nature.

In addition, we are piloting the use of excess salt as infrastructure for roads in the area.

This is another implementation of circular economy, using salt, a byproduct of the potash industry for erecting a security barrier.

The Dead Sea Visitor Center Project

ICL Dead Sea, in partnership with The Council for Conservation of Heritage Sites in Israel, converted the historical worker camp of the Eretz-Israeli Potash Company into a new visitor center. The visitor center opened to the public at the end of 2021. The visitor center includes exhibits with three main themes:

The history of Dead Sea Works, from before the establishment of the State of Israel. Its predecessor company, Eretz-Israeli Potash Company, employed hundreds of Jewish and Arab employees.
Exhibiting the special characteristics of the Dead Sea region, its unique nature, history, and environment, and how the Dead Sea rift was created tens of thousands of years ago.
The current industry in the region – its interrelation with the environment, contribution to the region and the country’s economy and its vital role in the global food supply chain, as well as its contribution to various other global needs.

The site was constructed at the historic workers camp location. Much work has been invested in rehabilitation and preservation of the historic structures, in collecting information and in constructing simulation and presentation facilities using advanced technology. The structures were rehabilitated, some of which were reconstructed according to the original plans and the historic site came back to life.

Forming a Detailed Plan for the Nahal Heimar Estuary, South of the Dead

Heimar Stream, one of the longest creeks in the Judean desert, contains unique geography and biodiversity, including rare plants, animals, and geological formations. Amid this environment, extensive mining and water infrastructure work (damming and flow channels) have been conducted over many years, including drilling and pumping stations for ICL Dead Sea Works. The Company, in cooperation with the INPA and the Tamar Regional Council, formed a plan for the integrated restoration of the area. The plan includes panoramic and ecological restoration of damaged areas, as well as restoration for tourism development in the areas adjacent to the road. ICL has selected a plan involving minimum development, that will provide hikers with an opportunity to explore the area without damaging it. This plan will allow for mining activity to continue in parallel with restoration of the entire area. The detailed plan was approved in 2017.

In 2020, a steering committee for the restoration of Nahal Heimar (downstream) was formed. The participants in the committee included ICL Dead Sea, the Tamar Regional council, the Nature and Parks Authority’s East Negev environmental unit and others. At the end of 2022, a plan to establish a desert park in the area was initiated. The park’s central feature will be a saltmarsh lake site funded by ICL Dead Sea. In addition to the lake, the plan includes bike lanes, a tourist retreat, food court, amphitheater and more. The implementation of this plan expresses the ICL Dead Sea commitment to the restoration of natural habitats that were affected by its mining activity, to minimize its ecological impact and strengthen the bond with its stakeholders. Work commenced in early 2023 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.

Sustainability Reporting Disclosures:

Disclosure: 304-3

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Sdom Saltmarsh Lake