Climate change, the global environmental crisis that people once perceived as a faraway worry, is now confronting Hawaii, especially as it affects sea-level rise. Adapting to the threats and curbing their impacts, though, will be a multiple-generational mission.
That’s why the establishment of a high-level Climate Advisory Team (CAT) for the state is an excellent foundational step, and the initial fact-gathering efforts will be crucial in coordinating planning across community, business and government institutions.
The challenge will be setting the climate mission firmly in state law and sustaining it through multiple state administrations to put adaptations in place.
The long process began in May when Gov. Josh Green tapped Chris Benjamin, the retired CEO of Alexander &Baldwin Inc., to put the team together that could research policies for managing the effects of climate change on the state.
And during a recent meeting with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser editorial board, team members acknowledged that hammering out a long-term policy structure can’t really begin until the group completes an initial round of stakeholder talks by this fall. It then will craft proposals for the next Legislature arrayed around four “pillars of disaster readiness” — environmental, infrastructure, physical/social impacts and financial/insurance impacts.
The CAT, chaired by Benjamin, is a group with well-rounded, expert perspectives. Its members also include Denise Antolini, who retired as a University of Hawaii law professor with a focus in environmental law; former state insurance commissioner Robin Campaniano; Chip Fletcher, interim dean of the University of Hawaii School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology; Kawika Riley, vice president of external affairs at the nonprofit environmental organization Kupu; and Gwen Yamamoto Lau, executive director of the state’s Hawaii Green Infrastructure Authority.
The members do seem to have eyes wide open about the realities they face. CAT is a volunteer entity with no budget taking on an enormous problem, so its stated intent to seek federal funds at this point is a rational first step.
The 2025 Legislature also should be the venue to reexamine, as Antolini suggested, the enactment of a visitor impact fee to help generate a more permanent funding base for ongoing climate-change work. The governor has pressed, rightly, for a $50 fee that has been projected to yield as much as $350 million each year.
Of course, the devastating Maui wildfires of a year ago, which demonstrated with tragic clarity the consequences of a lack of environmental stewardship, have put a laser focus on this issue. For those still suffering on Maui, such consequences are well understood.
Two weeks ago, Maui’s Circuit Court cleared the path toward a $4 billion settlement of hundreds of wildfire lawsuits, although the initial reaction from 163 insurance companies was to continue pressing for recovering claims that they have paid out.
The impact on the state’s insurance system, and on everyone depending on its solvency, demonstrates the need to implement smart structural changes to manage financial impacts of environmental risks, now increasing due to climate change.
It is encouraging that the CAT is researching existing models from which Hawaii might learn, including resilience efforts in Miami-Dade County and other jurisdictions (www.miamidade.gov/global/economy/resilience/county-climate-programs.page).
Just as important for the team is to educate the general public about all this as well. Too many in Hawaii still don’t see how climate change affects their own surroundings, their own families, in very real ways. They should not have to endure a wildfire or other climate catastrophe to finally grasp that.
