Palestine has been grappling with persistent economic difficulties, including high unemployment rates, limited resource access, and restricted trade opportunities. These challenges have hindered the growth and development of the industrial sector and posed barriers to sustainable economic progress.

The SwitchMed/MED TEST III project, implemented under the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), was launched after the successful implementation of the MED TEST II project. In cooperation with the Ministry of National Economy (MoNE), the Environmental Quality Authority (EQA), the Palestinian Federation of Industry (PFI) and the Palestinian Food Industries Union (PFIU), the MED TEST III project targeted seven companies from Palestine’s food and beverage, plastic, pharmaceutical, and paper sectors. Through training programs, workshops, and technical assistance, local service providers have been empowered to implement resource-efficient technologies and processes in the seven demonstration companies.

The industry demonstrations in Palestine identified a total of 119 resource efficiency measures. Among these, 107 measures, corresponding to approximately 90% of the total, were approved by the management of the demonstration companies and incorporated into their action plans for implementation.

The resource efficiency measures identified for the seven participating demonstration companies could potentially save 6,558 m3 of water, 11,207 MWh of energy, 792 tons of materials, and 7,913 tons of CO2 equivalent annually. As for economic savings, the identified measures have an average Payback Period (PBP) of two years and could potentially save the participating companies €2.5 million in annual production costs.

During the seven industry pilot demonstrations, ten service providers underwent training and an on-the-job training to become qualified in the UNIDO TEST methodology and 26 industry professionals received training in the same methodology. Additionally, 24 academics from 12 local universities were trained on the concept of resource-efficient production and the UNIDO TEST methodology and two universities have included this methodology into their curricula.

The success of this collaboration is inspiring and offers hope for a more resource-efficient and sustainable future for the industry in Palestine .