Major Jewish Organizations Form Coalition To Act On Climate Crisis

In a first-of-its-kind mobilization, 20 major Jewish organizations have recently announced the formation of the Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition, which brings together Jewish community leaders and organizations who recognize the existential threat and moral urgency of climate change and commit to taking action. Hallelujah!

To date, more than 90 national and international Jewish organizations have signed onto the Coalition Founding Statement, publicly articulating broad consensus that collective climate action is necessary and that the Jewish community is responding.

Hazon, a leading Jewish environmental organization and Blessed Tomorrow partner, is convening the Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition in partnership with its 20 founding partners. The founding partners represent networks connecting the vast majority of North American Jewish institutions and have a collective reach of hundreds of thousands of Jews each year. All Coalition members will develop and release Climate Action Plans annually, detailing climate actions taken to-date and setting strategic goals for the coming year, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“It is undeniable; the climate crisis is here, wreaking havoc upon our communities, and especially those most vulnerable in our society,” says Jakir Manela, Hazon CEO. “We are forming this coalition in order to firmly, collectively, and continually ask and answer the question: what are we going to do about it?”

Hazon is a proud partner of Blessed Tomorrow. As Hazon’s representative in the Blessed Tomorrow Leadership Circle, I think this is a win not just for the Jewish community but for all faith-based environmental efforts. Collectively, the greenhouse gas emissions of our communities is enormous. Even larger is the positive impact we can make by getting on pathways to net-zero emissions ourselves and expanding our impact through engagement in advocacy, education, and finance.

This is an existential planetary crisis, but also a profound opportunity to come together. It’s time we tackle this challenge with the full force of the Jewish community. We need the ingenuity, resilience, resourcefulness, wisdom, and perseverance of all people of faith.

By Becky O’Brien, Director of Food and Climate, Hazon

The Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition is open to Jewish organizations everywhere.   Visit  hazon.org/coalition to learn more.