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Honolulu summit to address airlines’ impact on climate

Representatives of the major airlines serving Hawaii will join local environmental and transportation industry officials in Honolulu Tuesday for a first-of-its-kind summit to discuss actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Hawaii Aviation and Climate Action Summit will convene from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the State Capitol and is open free to the public.

One of the event’s sponsors is Hawaiian Airlines.

“The airline industry has made huge strides to lower its collective carbon footprint, and we look forward to advancing our clean-energy efforts,” said Ann Botticelli, Hawaiian’s senior vice president for corporate communications and public affairs, in a news release.

With nearly a third of the petroleum consumed in the state for jet fuel, Hawaii is uniquely dependent on aviation for its economy, said Joelle Simonpietri of Simonpietri Enterprises LLC, the event organizer.

Alaska, Southwest and United Airlines are expected to send representatives to the event.

Also attending is the state of Hawaii’s chief energy officer, Scott Glenn, who will be representing the state at the U.N. Climate Change Conference COP25 in Madrid next week.

Summit speakers include representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Aviation Sustainability Center, the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuel Initiative, the state of Oregon’s Clean Fuel Program and the U.S. Low Carbon Fuel Coalition.

Event sponsors include Hawaii Bioeconomy Trade Organization, Island Energy Services, Hawaiian Airlines, Ulupono Initiative, Perkins Coie LLP, the state House of Representatives Committee for Energy and Environment, and the Hawaii State Energy Office.

Register for the summit here.

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