MacNaughton One of Hawaii Companies Investing in Local Carbon Offset Project
PACIFIC BUSINESS NEWS
Members of Hawaii’s Sustainability Business Forum join other officials from around the state at the United Nations’ Climate Action Summit in New York this week and 10 of the forum’s members have jointly invested in a carbon offset offset project that will work with The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii to improve an 8,000-acre forest.
The 10 companies and organizations — Alexander & Baldwin, the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, Hawaiian Airlines, the Hawaii Community Foundation, Hawaii Gas, Hawaiian Electric Co., Kamehameha Schools, The MacNaughton Group, Pulama Lanai and Ulupono Initiative — are investing $150,000 on the pilot project in the Kona Hema forest on Hawaii Island that will launch in 2020 and is expected to generate 120,000 in carbon offset credits in the first 10 years that can be sold on the global market.
“We are excited to join other Hawaii businesses to explore a possible new, green industry for Hawaii that supports both the economic and environmental sustainability of our state,” Peter Ingram, president and CEO of Hawaiian Airlines, said in a statement.
The project will involve fencing the existing forest, to protect it from pigs, and improving the soil so that trees grow better, said Julius Fischer of the Hawaii Green Growth Initiative, which coordinates the Sustainability Business Forum and last year was designated as a Local 2030 Hub by the UN.
“It’s a forest improvement project,” Ingram said. “They’re going from a degraded forest to an improved forest.”
The group noted that when the IUCN World Conservation Congress met in Hawaii in 2016, the organization purchased carbon offset credits from projects in Peru and India to offset some 30,000 tons of emissions generated by the conference because there were no local projects at the time.
“A carbon offset program in Hawaii will allow businesses, residents, and visitors to offset their carbon emissions by investing in protecting Hawaii’s koa and ohia forests, as well as improving groundwater recharge,” Ulalia Woodside, executive director of The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii, said in a statement. “We are delighted to partner with the SBF to create a market-based mechanism that can accelerate investment in these natural resources and ecosystem functions.”
The Sustainability Business Forum was established in 2017 by the 17 companies and organizations. In addition to the 10 investors in the carbon offset program, members include AHL, Bank of Hawaii, First Hawaiian Bank, Hawaii Pacific University, Kualoa Ranch, ResortTrust Hawaii and Pineapple Tweed PR & Marketing.
Representatives of three forum members — Dana Okano from the Hawaii Community Foundation, Ann Botticelli of Hawaiian Airlines and Piia Aarma of Pineapple Tweed — are traveling to New York to attend the Climate Action Summit.