Hawaiian Airlines has pledged to allow all passengers flying with them to measure and offset their carbon emissions from their flight, and to match all passenger offsets in April 2022.
The offset will be done by supporting Hawaiian projects which focus on maintaining forests.
Catching flights and planting trees
The Honolulu based airline launched its new CO2 offset programme in partnership with Conservation International, an American environmental nonprofit organisation that has helped to protect more than 2.3 million square miles of land and sea.
The airline pledged to match all passengers’ offsets this month in recognition of Earth Day on 22 April, and committed to offsetting all future employee business travel on all Hawaiian Airlines flights.
Hawaiian Airlines has made the process easy for passengers.
Individuals booking a flight from within the Hawaiian Islands, Hawaii itself, North America and various other international destinations such as Japan, South Korea, Tahiti, Australia and American Samoa, can enter their origin and destination on a carbon calculator (where you can add multiple legs and extra travellers if required). The calculator will allow the customer to view the CO2 emissions that will be produced on their travels. They can then choose to balance out their CO2 emissions by contributing to forest projects.
Forest projects, or carbon projects, are planned activities that manage forest land over decades or more to increase forest carbon storage and reduce deforestation.
Hawaiian Airlines already practices more efficient flying and advocates for air traffic control reform and the development of sustainable aviation fuel.
Alanna James, Managing Director of Sustainability Initiatives at Hawaiian Airlines, spoke of the importance of this pledge and how it fits within the airline’s current commitments to better its sustainability practices.
Following our pledge last year to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, we wanted to also give our passengers, both visitors to Hawai’i, as well as our island residents, the opportunity to reduce the impact of their individual emissions when travelling with us […] Conservation International offers a simple and meaningful way for our guests to support climate action, and we are delighted to welcome them onboard as partners in minimising our environmental impact.
Hawaii’s longest and largest serving airline has also planned to fund, via donations, Conservation International projects. The projects will work to protect forests globally and support local communities.
Hawaiian Airlines is the largest commercial flights operator to and from Hawaii. Their commitment to running flights more sustainability will only contribute to the wave of growing attention and proactivity within the aviation industry to improve sustainability and reduce the negative effect flying has on the environment.
What do you think about Hawaiian Airlines’ efforts? Let us know in the comments.
