Environment & Sustainability

As a relatively new player in the climate change arena, Israel is quickly catching up with many developed countries. However, the road to a comprehensive climate policy is still long.      

The study analyzes the way in which an adaptation measure carried out in the Mexican state of Tabasco has contributed to modifying gender relations. In the relocation program analyzed, implemented in response to severe flooding in 2007, the housing units built were granted to women.

Is it hysteria or emotional populism that Germany has decided to phase out nuclear energy? On the contrary, a majority of Germans has been unconvinced of its merits since the early 1980s; the source of this anti-atom consensus lies in the persuasive, fact-based arguments of a powerful, grassroots social movement.

Can Europe assert leadership on climate change in light of its myriad problems? The EU was key in shaping the outcome of the last UNFCCC negotiations, the so-called Durban Platform. This paper analyzes the prospects for Europe to continue to act as a driving force towards a greener planet, both at home and abroad.

In this essay, the president of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, Barbara Unmuessig, critically reflects on the opportunities for and the shortcomings of the concept of a "Green Economy" to influence economic policy making globally, its relationship to the paradigm of sustainable development and the need to rethink our understanding and focus on growth.

Climate change – and climate change financing – is not gender-neutral. Women, who form the majority of the world’s more than one billion poorest people, are often disproportionally affected by climate change impacts.

The First National Green Growth Conference in Israel was held at the end of February 2012, with notable speakers including Prime Minister Netanyahu, a parade of major cabinet ministers, Bank of Israel Governor Fischer and others. The long day ended with an inter-sectorial roundtable meeting on Green Growth. Are we (finally) on the Green Brick Road? And what can we do to get there?

Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear power after Fukushima has been criticized as it would lead to rising emissions and a shortage of power supply. A fact check proves these claims to be wrong. Today renewable energies provide more than a fifth of electricity demand in Germany. The country is on track to surpass its ambitious climate targets and even exports electricity to Europe’s nuclear power house France.

Industry in Israel must understand that internalizing social and environmental considerations will improve not only the future for all of us, but also its own financial sustainability. Naor Yerushalmi, Director of Life & Environment posits that the business community should become global market leaders in environmental innovation. This article first appeared in Hebrew in The Marker on February 7, 2012.