Galit Cohen, former head of Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, joins Jewish Climate Trust as Israel Director
“Climate action is national security” Cohen warns; “we are already experiencing the tangible effects of extreme weather events.”
Galit Cohen, formerly the Director General of Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and senior researcher on “Climate, Infrastructure and Energy” at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, has joined Jewish Climate Trust as its Israel Director, Stephen Bronfman and Michael Sonnenfeldt, the organization’s co-chairs, announced.
“Climate action is national security” for Israel, Cohen wrote in the Times of Israel last month. “Israel faces significant geopolitical challenges, and energy security is a fundamental concern,” she noted. “Failing to prioritize this transition [to energy independence] puts Israel at risk.” Today “we are already experiencing the tangible effects of extreme weather events, from intense wildfires near Jerusalem last week to severe sandstorms and record-breaking heat waves,” she points out.
Jewish Climate Trust is a think-and-do-tank, established to improve the performance of Israel and the Jewish people in relation to the climate crisis.
“The periphery in Israel will suffer most from the climate crisis. The citizens in the weaker local governments will pay the price,” Cohen told Haaretz in April 2023, three months after she announced her retirement from the Ministry after 22 years.
JCT has raised multi-year commitments totaling $18 million to date to effect change on climate within and beyond Israel and the Jewish community worldwide, and has already committed more than $6 million to support systemic change in both North America and Israel. It also intends to explore regional cooperation on climate in the Middle East.
“Israel has the potential and the responsibility to be a leader in this effort – not only for its own recovery and to foster regional collaboration but also as a global center for developing impactful climate solutions,” Cohen argues, citing that conviction as a reason for becoming JCT’s Israel Director, a newly created position.
“Israel can make a substantial contribution to global progress in addressing climate change. At JCT, my aim is to help build a more resilient, secure, and prosperous future for Israel, our surrounding region, and the world as a whole.”
Climate is also a regional issue: “we are all suffering from the same climate,” Cohen points out. “There is enormous potential for climate cooperation with our neighbors that we must promote.” Israel has much to offer “to stabilize our region,” she adds.
JCT combines research, strategic venture philanthropy, and leadership engagement to catalyze systemic change on climate. Formally launched at the Jewish Funders Network conference in March in the U.S., though planning for it started more than a year earlier, the organization seeks to bring together some of the world’s leading Jewish philanthropists and thinkers to achieve the greatest impact. “We aim to harness the strength and ingenuity of Jewish people around the world and the State of Israel to address the climate crisis,” Bronfman and Sonnenfeldt note.
“Galit is uniquely knowledgeable and respected in the field” said Nigel Savage, JCT’s founding CEO. “She’s the final jigsaw piece in building a staff team that gives us the capability to have significant impact in multiple different ways in the coming years.”
“Israel has the innovation, talent, and resources to lead in the global fight against climate change,” Cohen wrote last month. “But leadership requires action, not just words. The time to act is now. We must take climate seriously; it’s not going away.”
