Hope and Humanity at COP28: Reflections of an Israeli Delegate 

By Michal Seror, Sr. Director Key Initiatives @Startup Nation Central

 

Getting on a plane and traveling abroad for a week is never an easy feat – let alone leaving my family in the middle of a war. 
 
In this sense, COP28 was a form of escapism. To put the day-to-day reality on the backburner (“Are the kids safe?”, “How are you holding up?”) seemed impossible and many colleagues came up to me and with a severe look of concern and said, “Please don’t go.” 

The debate about our travels reached our management, but in the end, our team got on a plane that took us to a “level-3-travel-warning” destination for Israelis.  

After a year and a half of hard work, building relationships confirmed participation on five international stages, the high potential meetings scheduled, and the fact that the UAE hosted COP28 – our new strategic ally and partner… it was too much opportunity to give up on.  

With the Israeli delegation shrinking from “1000 attendees and the largest scheduled startup delegation ever to COP” to less than 40 people overall – we knew we needed to be there, no matter what. Daily chats with government officials residing in the UAE further convinced me to trust my gut – our participation became a national mission. My colleague Aviva Steinberger summarized it so well:  

“If we are not there, no one will miss us.
But if we do show up, people will notice.”  

Our brave team of four got on the plane unsure what lay ahead and a little concerned that we wouldn’t return safely. For a European or an American, this probably sounds a little dramatic, but as Israelis (and Jews), this is common – safety cannot be taken for granted. Carrying this extra mental baggage, we removed any obvious signs of our religion or nationality, like our Startup Nation Central swag bags, and resolved to speak only English in public.  

After weeks of difficult news, landing in a foreign country was a breath of fresh air – I got to speak about my favorite topics again: innovation, collaboration, tech, and climate solutions. It was like wearing my most comfortable track pants in public.  

People at COP28 spoke about waste, funding and investments, novel materials, new transatlantic programs, and building resilience. The word “impact” was spoken in a positive context and “negotiations” meant finding common ground for a better future.  
 
The UNFCCC selected us to curate a discussion about startup-corporate partnerships on its Tech & Innovation stage in the Blue Zone. Proudly holding up our logo, I spoke about our 10 years of experience working with multinationals partnering with Israeli startups, explaining the multi-model approach we are seeing take center stage post covid.  

With over 400+ multinationals active in Israel, we had a lot of data to work with.  

We were also pre-selected by the COP28 UAE Presidency to curate content in the green zone – our colleague Gary Soleiman moderated a panel on Urban Sustainability and the role of innovation. All in all, we truly made an effort to bring the deepest and most impactful climate tech discussions we could, leveraging our great contacts and relationships with key figures who are, just like us, focused on doing good to this world.   

As the week progressed and our sense of security increased, we braved the question of “where are you from” with the truth: “Israel”. Each time we answered, this sparked interest and a deeper conversation – often with an “I didn’t know that” from our counterpart. In some of these conversations, I left in tears, reminded of the reality we came from and would soon return to. Everyone I spoke to expressed solidarity with human pain and expressed support for a quick resolution. This renewed my faith in humanity. 

Returning safely to my family after a week at COP28, I can say that it was one of my most difficult weeks as an Israeli abroad. But it was also one of my most hopeful.  

I was reminded that there are truly good people out there. Maybe, just maybe, thanks to them, good (and our planet) will prevail.