We used to think climate work lived in laboratories, policy rooms, and protest signs. But these days it’s living comfortably inside Jewish thought. The Jewish Climate Trust is quietly proving that climate action doesn’t sit outside Judaism — it grows from it. Jewish Climate Trust (JCT) isn’t a think tank that lives only in theory, and it isn’t a charity that writes checks without strategy. It is a values-driven investment in how Jewish life — and Jewish responsibility — shows up in a world already shaped by climate change.
The starting point is simple and uncomfortable: the climate crisis is real, measurable, and accelerating. Denial is not a Jewish position. Despair isn’t either. Judaism teaches obligation without guaranteed success. You are not required to finish the work — but you are not free to abandon it. JCT lives inside that idea: it insists on action without pretending to own the ending.
The focus of the JCT is twofold: putting less carbon into the atmosphere and preparing communities for what is already unfolding.
But there is a third layer that feels distinctly Jewish: co-benefits. Every climate action should strengthen human relationships — between Jews and Jews, Israel and the diaspora, and across borders between people. We see that work in action in Israel’s Arava Center, a cross-border environment research study center that funds desert research, water, cleantech, advancing partners for peace along the way. Climate work, according to the JCT is not only environmental; it is social, political, spiritual, and it’s the moral thing to do.
In North America, JCT has made the largest climate grant ever given in the Jewish world, funding Adamah to accelerate Jewish climate leadership. This includes expanding the Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition, building regional hubs, and integrating climate into young leadership training. They also helped launch a Green Business Network, which is growing faster than anticipated.
Green Prophet founded a chapter of Green Drinks in Israel in 2009. Adamah is continuing the spirit with their next meet-up in Boston in February.
The goal is cultural change — not a single project, but a shift in how Jewish institutions understand responsibility.
In Israel, JCT is funding major research on climate preparedness and security. Climate awareness in Israel is not only about nature — it is about stability, health, migration, food systems, and national resilience. The JCT is pushing Israel to think ahead rather than react too late.
Regionally, JCT is supporting the Center for Applied Environmental Diplomacy at the Arava Institute — one of the most important cross-border environmental cooperation platforms in the Middle East. When USAID funding was lost, years of trust-building between Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians, and international partners were suddenly at risk. JCT stepped in with a significant multi-year commitment, joined by private stakeholders, to keep this fragile but vital ecosystem alive.
Jewish Climate Trust has quickly attracted the attention and support of some of the most influential voices in Jewish philanthropy, drawing backing from prominent family foundations and business leaders connected to the Bronfman and Schusterman philanthropic networks, alongside climate-focused investors and community builders aligned with founding leader Nigel Savage. Together, these donors have committed many millions of dollars to build a serious, long-term climate platform for the Jewish world — not as a symbolic gesture, but as a strategic intervention in one of the defining challenges of this generation.
