Stephen Bronfman starts new global Jewish climate fund to counter Trump's cuts to environmental protection

The CJN Daily with Ellin Bessner

While tariffs on steel and energy in the Canada-U.S trade war are currently dominating the news headlines, Montrealer Stephen Bronfman has been paying very close attention to a different sector now under the microscope: the environment.

Bronfman, a longtime "green" campaigner, runs his family's private investment firms and supports the Birthright outfit, which his father founded 25 years ago. He has been watching Donald Trump's return to power south of the border with some alarm, because of his plans to roll back many laws that protect the environment, fire tens of thousands of government environment agency staff, lift restrictions on building pipelines, slow the electric vehicle trend, and permit unfettered development of the oil and gas industry, again. Or, as Trump called it during his Tuesday night speech to Congress, "Drill, baby, Drill!!"

Those are all red flags for Bronfman, which is why he is urging wealthy Jewish donors to step up and make it their business to protect the environment and mitigate climate change, now that it's no longer part of the Trump business agenda. (Also in Canada, the carbon tax is on its way out, no matter who is elected prime minister.)

This month, Bronfman is launching a new Jewish Climate Trust, with funds going to support climate solutions in North America and also in Israel, harnessing that country's eco-tech "start-up nation" know-how.

The new climate trust already has "a minyan" of investors, as Bronfman jokingly puts it, including some prominent Canadians. He joins The CJN Daily's Ellin Bessner to explain how his fund can also secure the future of Jews in Israel and build bridges in the region.

To read the transcript of the interview, go to the episode at www.thecjn.ca

What we talked about:

• Learn more about the Jewish Climate Trust.
• Read more about Stephen Bronfman’s efforts to promote the environment, in The CJN archives, from 2009.
• Bronfman’s initial board includes his father Charles, and also Montrealer Jeff Hart, the co-founder of the Climate Solutions Prize, honouring Israeli environmental research, through JNF Canada, in The CJN.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

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