The Climate Advisory Team (CAT) was convened by Governor Green to develop community-informed policy recommendations that drive the state’s climate-related priorities for the next legislative session in 2025.
We owe it to Hawaiʻi to do everything we can to reduce the impacts of climate-related disasters like the Lahaina wildfire, including the environmental, economic and community fallout that came with it. It is our responsibility as a state to proactively mitigate the unmanageable costs of a future climate-related disaster. Designing these mitigations through policy change is the goal of the Climate Advisory Team.
The Climate Advisory Team (CAT) is charged with developing policy recommendations to minimize the impacts of future climate-related disasters and to speed recovery from the physical and financial damage they cause. The group is empowered to create a set of solutions that meets the unique situation in Hawaiʻi; while the CAT will look to models established in other communities around the country, our objective is to recommend a set of solutions that are responsive to the specific needs of our island community statewide. We recognize that these problems won’t be solved overnight, but progress must be made.
The CAT is addressing both resilience and recovery so that we can both withstand and recover from future disasters.
Recovery initiatives address the physical and social impacts of disasters so Hawaiʻi can be prepared to restore essential services and meet the physical, social and emotional needs of our community post-disaster.
Resilience initiatives address environmental restoration and protection to reduce disaster impact, as well as cost-effective investment into improving infrastructure to withstand the types of storms that are becoming commonplace.
Finally, we must also address the financial impacts of disasters, including economic recovery and ensuring that individuals and businesses have access to insurance coverage and funds to cover financial losses.
Timeline
The CAT engaged a wide range of community members and experts to inform its work throughout the summer and fall of 2024. In January 2025, the CAT released a policy paper of findings and recommendations for immediate actions and long-term policies in advance of the 2025 legislative session.
Summer 2024
The CAT met with subject matter experts, leadership of government agencies and grassroots community advocates to understand the unique challenges faced and glean insights into potential policy solutions; evaluate successful efforts applicable to Hawaiʻi’s resilience and disaster recovery needs; and gain insight into the interwoven challenges facing residents.
Fall & Winter 2024
The CAT released a policy paper of findings and recommendations for immediate actions and long-term policies that will help Hawaiʻi survive and respond to future disasters.
2025 Legislative Session
The CAT will engage in the 2025 legislative process in support of legislation that leads to meaningful, concrete action for disaster resilience, readiness and recovery.
Climate Advisory Team Members
-
Chris Benjamin, chair
Chris Benjamin, retired CEO of Alexander & Baldwin, now dedicates his time to climate-related initiatives. In addition to chairing the CAT, he founded and chairs Climate Hawai‘i, an initiative of the Hawai‘i Executive Collaborative, and serves as a special advisor to Governor Green.
-
Denise Antolini
Denise Antolini has more than 30 years of experience in the environmental law field in Hawai‘i. She retired in 2023 as Professor of Law Emerita from the William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. She is active in North Shore community and environmental issues.
-
Robin Campaniano
Robin Campaniano served as the state Insurance Commissioner and is the retired president and CEO of AIG Hawai‘i Insurance Co. Campaniano chairs the Shidler College of Business Advisory Council and is on the Board of Directors of First Hawaiian Bank and Zephyr Insurance Company.
-
Charles "Chip" Fletcher, Ph.D.
Charles “Chip” Fletcher, Ph.D., serves as the Governor's special advisor for climate and resilience and as the interim dean of the School of Ocean and Earth Science andTechnology at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. He brings extensive expertise in climate change, coastal community resiliency, and sea level rise impacts.
-
Kāwika Riley, Ph.D.
Kāwika Riley, Ph.D., is the vice president of External Affairs at Kupu, a leading youth-focused sustainability nonprofit working throughout Hawaiʻi and the U.S. Affiliated Pacific. His background includes conservation and growing Hawaiʻi’s sustainability workforce.
-
Gwen Yamamoto Lau
Gwen Yamamoto Lau is the executive director of the Hawai‘i Green Infrastructure Authority and was also recently appointed by Governor Green to serve on a joint Executive-Legislative Property Insurance Task Force. In addition to a background in banking and extensive experience in financing resilience initiatives, Gwen was appointed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan to serve on its Environmental Financial Advisory Board.
Process and Considerations
The subject matter experts that make up this team are working together with a hui of consultants and a broad range of community members to create solutions that will help communities be safer and more resilient in the long term.
Gathering the Facts
In the initial fact-finding phase of our work, we met with subject matter experts in climate science, insurance markets, land stewardship and environmental justice, as well as leadership of government agencies and grassroots community advocates. CAT members conducted extensive research to understand the unique challenges faced and glean insights into potential policy solutions; evaluate successful efforts applicable to Hawaiʻi’s resilience and disaster recovery needs; and gain insight into the interwoven challenges facing residents.
Short- and Long-Term Solutions
Long-term solutions take time to implement, so while the hard work of resilience improvements continues to move forward, the CAT also recognizes that the community needs safeguards now, in the event that another climate-related natural disaster occurs in the short term.
Investing Smart Now
We recognize that financial considerations – how to cover the cost of the proposed initiatives – is a real issue and we are seeking pathways to federal funding whenever possible. We believe that it is worth it to invest what it takes to be prepared now, rather than paying more later in not only financial terms but in terms of loss of lives, livelihoods and communities in Hawaiʻi.
Commitment to Transparency
The Climate Advisory Team believes in the importance of an open flow of information throughout our community when important decisions need to be made, including those under discussion by this group. Likewise, the final work product of the Climate Advisory Team will be in the form of legislative proposals that, by their nature, involve public participation.
While our meetings and deliberations are not subject to sunshine laws because we were established by the Governor’s directive and not an executive order, and are not a “board” as defined in statute, we are committed to being open and transparent in our process.
This website will be the home for regular updates on the progress of the Climate Advisory Team. It hosts our findings and recommendations which are open for public comment and input via this digital portal. We welcome the opportunity to engage with the public and the media to discuss our policy recommendations in advance of the 2025 legislative session.
Frequently Asked Questions
-
Climate Advisory Team’s work is part of the fifth phase in the state’s response to the Maui disaster:
Immediate emergency response
Support for victims via the One ʻOhana Fund
Settling lawsuits related to the Maui wildfires
Rebuilding Lahaina
Protecting Hawaiʻi moving forward
The costs of this disaster - the precious lives lost, the personal emotional toll, the economic fallout - cannot be repeated. But the sobering reality is that the possibility of these kinds of climate-related disasters are part of our reality today. 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.
The CAT is taking action to improve our environmental, infrastructure, and economic resilience, and promote policies that will speed recovery from climate-related natural disasters.
-
There is clear evidence that the August 8, 2023 firestorm, including the Lahaina wildfire, was a climate-related disaster. The unprecedented frequency of severe wind storms, combined with rising global temperatures, compounded other urgent environmental issues like extensive dry, invasive vegetation that set the conditions for this fire. Aging utility infrastructure and climate related factors contributed to the start of the blaze and climate-related conditions made it impossible to contain.
Climate change is complex, and the issues it causes can be understood in two categories - stressors and shocks. Stressors are consistent, persistent factors like sea level rise, coastal erosion, or temperature shifts. Shocks are events, often catastrophic, that are caused or exacerbated by climate change conditions - things like floods, hurricanes, or, as we tragically experienced in Lahaina, wildfires.
The CAT is focused on mitigating the adverse impact of these kinds of shocks - climate-related disasters - and ensuring the islands are better prepared to recover if and when they do occur.
-
One of the CAT’s goals is to find ways to ensure availability of insurance for natural disasters and to provide an alternative for risks that insurers will not accept. However, there can be no guarantee that insurance premiums will come down until and unless the market stabilizes over time.
-
The Governor and the State Energy Office have established a separate Energy Working Group to update decarbonization pathways for our electrical grid and the State Department of Transportation has a team identifying opportunities to accelerate decarbonization of our transportation system. While these efforts will intersect and there is some overlap in the participants, the CAT is not directly involved in developing the decarbonization plan.
-
The Governor and legislative leaders have established a separate Property Insurance Task Force to study solutions to the difficulties facing condo associations and multi-family residential owners.
-
Climate stressors are long-term pressures that make adverse climate events more likely, whereas climate shocks are disasters like floods, hurricanes, droughts and fires. The CAT acknowledges that it is important to address stressors, however our focus is on mitigating the negative effects of and managing recovery efforts for climate shocks.