A delegation of about 70 Israelis arrived in Paris on Monday for the start of the 11-day United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21), where UN member countries will be encouraged to sign a binding agreement to keep global warming below an increase of two degrees Celsius over the next century.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to address the conference along with Ron Adam, special envoy for energy and permanent representative of Israel to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and Eitan Parnass, director general and founder of the Green Energy Association of Israel.
Several side events will be hosted by members of the Israeli delegation. The Ministry of Environmental Protection, along with its counterpart in Bavaria, will lead a session on the use of alternative refrigerants with reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The Jewish National Fund will host a session on deforestation.
Next Sunday and Monday, the Foreign Ministry will offer presentations on renewable energy, including a showcase of eight Israeli companies with innovative clean-tech for renewable energy and climate change mitigation:
- SolarEdge: power optimizer, solar inverter and monitoring solutions for photovoltaic arrays (Herzliya Pituah)
- Enstorage: grid-scale energy storage systems (Yavneh)
- Brenmiller Energy: thermal energy storage systems (Rosh HaAyin)
- Homebiogas: household biogas systems (Beit Yannai)
- Ecoppia: robotic water-free PV cleaning systems (Herzliya, Misgav)
- Breezometer: personalized air-pollution monitoring (Haifa)
- Sologic: urban solar-panel canopies (Binyamina)
- Phinergy: zero-emission aluminum-air batteries (Lod)
In concert with COP21, about 60 people of different faiths came together on Monday at Jerusalem’s Zion Gate calling for action on climate change. This was one of 2,000 similar events in 140 cities worldwide, including Tel Aviv and Ramallah.
(via Israel21c)
[Photo: CCTV America / YouTube ]