New tool tracks sustainability progress

Honolulu Star Advertiser - March 31, 2015

By: Star Advertiser Staff

Gov. David Ige will join the four county mayors, University of Hawaii President David Lassner and officials from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs on Wednesday to announce a new method for tracking Hawaii's progress on achieving sustainability goals.

The event will feature the Aloha+ Challenge Dashboard, a new online tool that allows the public to track state and county progress on reaching two of the six Aloha+ Challenge targets. Those goals are for clean energy and solid-waste reduction.

The targets for those areas are to reduce the solid-waste stream by 70 percent, and to shift to 70 percent "clean energy" by 2030.

Endorsed by former Gov. Neil Abercrombie, the mayors and the leadership at OHA in July, the Aloha+ Challenge aims to achieve six sustainability targets by 2030. In addition to clean energy and solid-waste reduction, the challenge sets targets for local food production, natural-resource management, smart growth and climate resilience, and green jobs and education.

The official launch of the Aloha+ Challenge Dashboard is slated for 4:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the state Capitol auditorium. The event will be hosted by Hawai‘i Green Growth, state Sen. Mike Gabbard (D, Kapolei-Makakilo) and Rep. Chris Lee (D, Kailua-Lanikai-Waimanalo).