JNF Canada, together with KKL-JNF, and Start-Up Nation Central, with the support of the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, launched the Climate Solutions Prize on March 1st.
The Climate Solutions Prize will award climate innovation across two vectors — researchers and startup companies —with more than $2 million in incentives to develop and bring their solutions to market. The winners of the various tracks will be announced in a first-of-its-kind Climate Innovation Festival set to be held in Israel in October.
“We are seeing the dramatic impact of climate change all over the world, and it is clear that this important issue has become urgent. But in a world of interests and fears, in a world torn with distrust, a global crisis can become a catalyst for partnerships because latent in every crisis is an opportunity,” President Isaac Herzog said in a recorded video address. “This is why the Climate Solutions Prize initiative is precisely what we need today. This prize excites the famous Israeli creativity and curiosity that turned us into a startup nation and compels us to live up to this reputation. This is Israel’s opportunity to be a global leader in meeting the challenge of climate change.”
Prime Minister Naftali Bennet also addressed the attendees via video, stressing the importance of innovation in the battle against climate change. “It’s my hope that this prize will further enable Israeli technology to fight climate change and win this war. Israeli scientists have transformed Israel into a world leader in this field, but we’ve got so much more to offer. Together we can join forces so our children can breathe cleaner air, drink cleaner water, and live in a world that will treat the planet better than we did,” he said.
“Climate change is the biggest challenge of our time. If temperatures continue to rise, all we have worked so hard to build may be at risk due to increased flooding, forest fires, and drought,” stated Jeff Hart, Executive Chair of the Climate Solutions Prize. “As Jewish people committed to Tikkun Olam - Repairing the World - we created the Climate Solutions Prize to galvanize Israel, known as the Startup Nation, to develop breakthrough solutions to help solve the climate crisis, and even turn it into an opportunity.”
“KKL-JNF’s commitment to the Climate Solutions Prize is a vote of confidence in the ability of Israeli research to bring about technological breakthroughs in the global battle against climate change,” said KKL-JNF Vice-Chairperson Emily Levy-Shochat. “Our commitment to the mission extends to the establishment of a new KKL-JNF climate center that will promote practical projects in regional councils across the country, dealing with renewable energy, climate leadership, sustainable construction, research and development, and increasing public awareness of the climate crisis.”
“We are joining forces with partners from the philanthropic and business realms to harness Israel’s agile and creative tech ecosystem to come up with solutions to the biggest shared challenge of our times,” said Start-Up Nation Central CEO Avi Hasson.
“In the coming decade, we will be called on to cope with the dangers related to global climate change, which risk causing harm at an unprecedented scale,” said Chemi Peres, Chairman of the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation. “Our success in meeting those challenges depends on our ability to innovate, collaborate, and adopt new behavior patterns when it comes to the environment. The Perse Center for Peace and Innovation is committed to making these changes, side by side with our partners who join us today to launch this joint initiative.”
The Climate Solutions Prize is a comprehensive initiative to support the potential for research and innovation to address the climate change crisis. The initiative operates two distinct tracks. One is the Breakthrough Research Prize offering a grant for Israeli scientists and researchers. The other is the Startup Track, which runs a series of challenges that offer investment, cash prizes, and exposure to Israeli tech companies. Each Startup Challenge is led by different industry leaders and philanthropic partners, including Capital Nature, The Temasek Foundation, ESIL, Kornit Digital, SolarEdge, and Merck.
Israel is currently home to more than 700 technology companies that are already developing solutions for addressing climate challenges, including sustainable food systems, circular economy, clean energy, efficiency and storage, sustainable mobility, sustainable manufacturing, nature protection, and many more. During the prize launch, a new landscape map detailing the leading companies with solutions to address the climate crisis was released. View the map here.
For more information about the tracks and their submission criteria and deadlines, visit www.climatesolutionsprize.com
The Environment and Climate Change portal is produced in cooperation with the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The Jerusalem Post maintains all editorial decisions related to the content.
