Values
Our Commitment to Sustainability and ESG
While it was not called “sustainability,” for the James Campbell Company, this concept expressed a set of values that are fundamental to the way we have been conducting our business for more than 120 years. It has meant combining principles of environmental stewardship, social conscience and responsibility, and economic vitality and resilience to create thriving diverse communities that meet the needs of present and future generations. These themes have always been central to our operating philosophy.
Today, sustainability is broadly encompassed in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria that forward-looking, ethical and successful businesses embrace. We have incorporated ESG principles across the Company and measure ourselves against these criteria – from being environmentally and socially responsible, to operating our business with the highest standards of corporate governance based on integrity and accountability to all our stakeholders.
We have an historical commitment to being good corporate citizens by being actively involved in community building and cultural preservation in Hawaii. We share this commitment with the James & Abigail Campbell Family Foundation, which is funded mainly by Campbell family members. The Family Foundation is dedicated to the memory of James and Abigail Campbell and reaffirms their legacy of commitment to Hawaii and its future well-being.
Building Green
Built on once verdant sugar cane fields on Oahu’s Ewa plain, the 30-year-old master-planned City of Kapolei reflects the most progressive thinking in land planning at the time. It included the commitment to having the gentlest possible environmental impact as the city took shape and grew. This commitment continues today.
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
The James Campbell Company is active in seeking LEED certification for those of its properties that represent good candidates. Currently there are 4 LEED buildings:
Native Ecosystems
To the James Campbell Company, protecting the natural environment is more than preserving open space in its developments on the island of O’ahu. As a state that accounts for less than 0.2 percent of U.S. land, Hawai’i has more than 25 percent of species found on the nation’s endangered species list.
On the north shore of the island, the 153-acre James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1976 by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to provide a protected wetlands habitat for endangered Hawaiian waterbirds. Today, the expanded refuge of 1,100 acres provides protection for a wide variety of water birds, animals, and plants.
The Company also helped to facilitate the dedication of 4,800 acres of land for the Honouliuli Preserve in the Waianae Mountains above the City of Kapolei to the State of Hawai’i for the purpose of protecting rare plants and animal life.
Renewable Energy
The Company’s focus on renewable energy began in 2011 with the repurposing of a 12-acre brownfield site in Campbell Industrial Park into a solar farm to produce clean, non-polluting energy. The Company, with the help of project partners, built the Kapolei Sustainable Energy Park. It now produces 1.18 megawatts of clean renewable solar energy equivalent to the electricity needed to power 150 to 250 homes a year. The Company also leases 42 acres in Lower Makakilo to the Palailai Solar Project for the generation of solar power at the Palailai Solar Project and 8 acres in Kapolei for the Kapolei Energy Storage (KES) system that stores renewable energy from various sources during the day for output to the grid at night. The KES project is a key part of realizing the state’s mandate to shift from fossil fuels to 100 percent renewable energy generation by 2045.
Community Giving
Supporting our communities is a long-standing tradition and practice dating back to the inception of the Estate of James Campbell in 1900. Our charitable grants are made through our Community Fund. Priority is given to programs that serve the West O’ahu area, with emphasis on youth, education, community building, community partnerships, and James Campbell Company employee involvement. We also partner with the James & Abigail Campbell Family Foundation, which supports social, educational and cultural programs in the community, with particular emphasis on promoting the values, health and welfare of Hawaiians. In times of crisis, we respond to immediate needs such as working with community organizations and businesses to provide emergency food assistance to families during the Covid pandemic and its aftermath.
Culture
The Company’s Lanikuhonua Cultural Institute at its beachfront property at Ko Olina is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Hawaiian culture. For more than a decade, the Institute has sponsored Hawaiian studies classes for elementary and middle school students. Since that time, the Institute expanded its programs to include the free, non-competitive Lei `O Lanikuhonua Hula Festival for high school students and the public Mele & Hula summer concert series that features island music and dance.
