Yonatan Neril

[7] In December 2023 he was a co-organizer of the first-ever Faith Pavilion at a UN climate conference (COP28 in Dubai), which included 65 sessions with 325 speakers, and was hosted by the Muslim Council of Elders.

In its review of Eco Bible, Publishers Weekly wrote that the book “will inspire contemplation on how to live in harmony with nature and the power of conservation.” Professor Bill Brown, Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary in Georgia calls Eco Bible “a rich repository of insights… for people of faith to move forward with wisdom, inspiration, and hope, all for the sake of God’s good creation.”[20] Neril also co-authored three ICSD reports on faith and ecology courses in seminary education in Israel, North America, and Rome.

In July 2011, Neril and the ICSD team organized an interfaith panel of Jewish, Muslim and Christian authorities, who discussed the religious importance of ecological sustainability.

[24] In March, 2012, Neril co-organized and spoke at the Interfaith Climate and Energy Conference[25] in Jerusalem, which was focused on promoting change and action for a sustainable development within faith communities around the globe.

In October, 2014, Neril spoke at the Faith and Ecology Conference for Seminarians in Jerusalem, which was co-organized by ICSD, KAS, and the Salesian Pontifical University.

[27] In June, 2016, Neril presented at the International Seminar on Science and Religion for Environment Care[28] in Torreciudad, Spain and at a press conference in Madrid.

In the Jerusalem Press Club, on July 26, 2017, Neril acted as moderator of the panel with a judge of the Muslim Sharia Courts in Israel, Kadi Iyad Zahalha; Rabbi David Rosen; and the Custos of the Holy Land, Father Francesco Patton.

The event focused on the key role faith leaders can play on raising awareness of the relevance and urgency of curbing climate change and achieving environmental sustainability.

They engaged about 1,000 US seminary faculty and deans, and were held in Los Angeles, Boston, and Chicago in 2019; in Dallas in 2019; in Atlanta in 2018; in Columbus, Ohio and Washington D.C. in 2017; and in New York City in 2016.

While in university, he conducted research on renewable energy in northern India, and on genetically modified corn in Oaxaca, Mexico, about which he wrote his thesis.