Coffee producers, banks, a paper maker and an airline will be honored for their work supporting sustainable forestry and conserving resources at the Rainforest Alliance 2008 Gala.

The event will honor businesses and individuals who have worked with the Alliance and shown leadership on sustainability issues or supported conservation work. Business honorees range from companies reducing their dependence on paper to funding reforestation efforts.

Honorees include:

• Toshishige Nakagoshi, chairman of the Yusuhara Forest Owners' Cooperative, which was earned Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification in 2000 and has help cooperative members sell the majority of their wood products to eco-conscious builders who pay on average more than the wholesalers and auction markets they sold to before.

• Mohawk Fine Papers, which produces FSC-certified products, uses a high percentage of recycled content in some papers and purchases enough wind power Renewable Energy Certificates to match all of its energy use.

• NatureAir, a Costa Rica-based airline that has reduced emissions with small steps like switching to efficient light bulbs, offsets its remaining carbon dioxide emissions and funds reforestation in Costa Rica.

• Gloria Jean's Coffees International, which started purchasing coffee from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms three years ago and aims to source up to 85 percent of its coffee from certified farms in the next three years.

• Goldman, Sachs & Co., which plans to have more than half of the wood in its new worldwide headquarters come from FSC-certified forests. The banking company also uses paper from well-managed forests for documents, and half of the coffee served in company facilities is Rainforest Alliance Certified.

• HSBC bank, which gives preference to FSC-certified businesses when financing forestry projects and created a five-year, $100 million partnership with conservation groups to evaluate its environmental practices and reduce its impact on climate change.

• Luigi Lavazza S.p.A., an Italian coffee roaster and seller that helped develop a sustainability project to improve small coffee rowing operation in Honduras, Peru and Colombia.

• Prince Charles, for his efforts on conservation, corporate responsibility, sustainability, slowing deforestation and climate change.

The Rainforest Alliance 2008 Gala takes place May 15 in New York City.