We don’t hear as much about the “sustainability” part of your agency’s mission. How will the office address it?
So many sustainability measures are themselves climate action and resilience efforts. Energy and water efficiency; plastic waste reduction; actions to improve quality of life today and for future generations. When the city changed out all 53,000 streetlights to more efficient and cost-saving LEDs, this reduced expenses and brought savings to city operations benefiting residents. That’s sustainability across the board, but also a direct climate action.
Eliminating carbon pollution is a critical step. The city’s first-ever Climate Action Plan is the strategy to eliminate our island’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), the root cause of global heating and climate change.
How should the city be responding in the wake of recent flooding? What is your role in seeing that actions are taken?
The Resilience Office coordinates, bringing resources to bear through information and decision-making support, engagement, and/or direct external funds.
We’ve already experienced local climate changes and the science is clear on increasing hazard risks — climate change is a threat multiplier. Responding to climate change is twofold: eliminating carbon pollution through decarbonization and preparing communities for a changing environment due to climate change. Uncertainty brings risk and climate change is increasing that risk.
This year, the city is working on almost $2 million-worth of innovative planning, design and risk-analysis projects through FEMA grants, including specific actions identified through the community-sourced Oahu Resilience Strategy, e.g., Resilience Hub Planning and updating shoreline management rules and regulations.
Coastal road realignments and other mitigations of climate change are costly. Is there a plan for financing these projects?
Sea level rise (SLR) is a triple-threat risk: permanent inundation, annual high wave flooding, and erosion and permanent loss of land. We need to be clear-eyed about the realities we’re facing.
Based on the statewide SLR report, about $13 billion worth of property and structures on Oahu are at risk from the impacts of SLR just beyond mid-century. That’s if we do nothing. The no-action alternative really isn’t an option when change is coming to our shoreline.
Community conversations and intergovernmental coordination are critical to align local resources. Having plans is necessary to be competitive for potential federal resources. Adaptation actions require an all-of-the-above toolkit: planning, regulatory, spending and market-based tools. We need the community visions, facilitative programs, e.g., transfer of development rights, and project investments.
What goals of the Climate Action Plan (CAP) are the most immediate?
The CAP is science-based and community-driven, detailing nine overarching strategies and 47 climate actions the city can immediately pursue to reduce Oahu’s carbon pollution.
This CAP keys in on Oahu’s largest emissions sectors of buildings and energy, transportation and waste. The city is leading by example through two energy service performance contracts and building benchmarking (tracking a building’s performance over time) — we’d much rather spend city funds on operations than pay for wasted energy.
On the transportation side, we’re finalizing a fleet conversion study; accelerating electric bus purchasing and building out charging infrastructure; and implementing Complete Streets projects, bringing more access, choice and safety to neighborhoods islandwide.
How ready are the city’s building codes for protecting properties from climate change?
Building codes set the ground floor. That’s for the actual finished floor elevation, but also how the structure performs.
The city is actively working to adopt the 2018 energy conservation, building and plumbing codes to incorporate the impact new buildings will have on our GHGs, but also ensuring that buildings that will be with us for decades are prepared for what climate change they will experience.
Climate change is a health-and-safety issue that must be incorporated in our thinking about how we protect properties and communities. We know that preparing now saves money and lives; adopting and enforcing current building codes is among the most efficient ways to build community resilience.
A climate stressor like increased heat, or an unexpected disruption like COVID-19, highlights the need for an effective energy code to complement effective building codes.
THE BIO FILE
>> Title: Executive director and chief resilience officer, city Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency (www.resilientoahu.org)
>> Education: Cornell University, bachelor of science in natural resources and master’s in both regional planning and landscape architecture
>> Professional: Formerly, coastal/water program manager with the Resilience Office; community planning/design extension agent with University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program
>> Personal: Though with less time to participate lately, a proud tree-hugger and inventory volunteer: certified citizen forester and team leader through the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife Kaulunani Urban and Community Forestry Program and Smart Trees Pacific (www.kaulunani.org)
