Israeli billionaire tech entrepreneur Ziv Aviram is teaming up with former President Bill Clinton to launch a climate initiative with startup capital of roughly $1 billion. The fund was announced Monday at the Clinton Global Initiative conference, held annually in Manhattan to coincide with the United Nations General Assembly.
“Let’s ensure a better future for us and for all future generations,” Aviram said on Monday at the conference. “After all, we do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”
Aviram is the co-founder of Mobileye, an autonomous vehicle firm acquired by Intel in 2017 and co-CEO of OrCam, an artificial intelligence device manufacturer for the visually impaired. In 2021, together with his wife and four children, he founded the Aviram Foundation to support entrepreneurs making social change in Israel and the Middle East.
The New York-based fund, EcoBridge, will primarily invest in later-stage companies addressing climate change that need help building the scale to compete globally, according to the announcement. The fund’s advisory board includes investors Itai Lemberger, founder of Bow Wave Capital Management, and Robert Citrone, co-founder of Discovery Capital Management, in addition to Aviram and Clinton. The board will examine the implications of the climate crisis across various political, economic and governmental aspects.
“Climate change is an existential threat that grows more urgent with every passing day — but the good news is that we already know how to address it,” Clinton, who will serve as chair of the advisory board, said in a statement.
“By investing in innovation and working together across every sector of society to change the ways we produce and consume energy, we can prevent the worst impacts of climate change, create millions of good jobs, and preserve our planet for future generations,” the former president added.
Both the Aviram Foundation and Clinton Foundation vowed to use the profits from the fund toward further philanthropy.
“As a fulfillment of the Aviram Foundation’s vision, our revenue will cycle back to our philanthropy and will help promote people and ventures in their mission to create a better world,” the foundation said in a statement.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Aviram predicted that the recent floods and wildfires around the world highlighted the need for large-scale investment in green technologies, even as alternative energy companies have recently seen hedge funds selling off their stakes in them.
Across town at UNGA, President Joe Biden called for action on climate change. He referenced recent natural disasters and emphasized that Beijing and Washington need to cooperate on climate.
The announcement also comes during New York City’s Climate Week, which kicked off on Sunday with the March to End Fossil Fuels. Organizers estimated that some 75,000 people attended the march. As the event was held on Rosh Hashanah, few Jewish groups officially participated.
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