Hawaiʻi’s Climate Advisory Team (CAT) was convened by Governor Josh Green, M.D., to develop community-informed policy recommendations that drive the state’s climate-related disaster policies for the 2025 legislative session.
Watch the CAT’s Virtual Policy Paper Presentation
CAT members provided an overview of the findings, insights and recommendations detailed in the policy paper. Following the presentation, attendees asked questions about the policy paper during a Q&A session with the team. The full recording the policy paper webinar is now available.
Phase 1: Initial Fact Finding
COMPLETE
In the initial fact-finding phase of our work, we met with subject matter experts in areas that included environmental justice, climate science, insurance markets, land stewardship, state agencies and grassroots community advocates to understand the unique aspects of the challenges we face and the policy solutions that can be achieved.
Phase 2: Our Recommendations
COMPLETE
The Climate Advisory Team’s policy paper is now available, including our recommendations to inform the administration’s legislative priorities for the 2025 legislative session and beyond. The policy paper describes actions Hawaiʻi can take immediately while simultaneously building the foundation for long-term policies that will help Hawaiʻi survive and respond to future disasters.
Phase 3: 2025 Legislative Session
The CAT is engaging in the 2025 legislative process in support of legislation that leads to meaningful, concrete action for disaster resilience, readiness and recovery. We welcome input from the public, legislators and subject matter experts and will take comments into consideration while advocating for specific legislation to support these objectives during the 2025 legislative session and beyond.
The work of the CAT is forward-looking and focused on promoting resilience and recovery capabilities for our state.
We owe it to our community to do everything we can to reduce the impacts of climate-related disasters like the Maui wildfires, including the environmental, economic and community fallout that come with them. The costs of this disaster - the precious lives lost, personal the emotional toll, the economic fallout - cannot be repeated. But the sobering fact is that the possibility of these kinds of climate-related disasters is part of our reality today.
We can take action to improve our environmental, infrastructure and economic resilience, and promote policies that will speed recovery from climate-related natural disasters.
It is our responsibility as a state to proactively reduce the unmanageable costs of a future climate-related disaster. Designing these solutions through policy change is the goal of the Climate Advisory Team.
We cannot allow ourselves to be unprepared again the next time there’s a climate-related natural disaster. We must act at a legislative policy level to ensure the state is better able to respond.
