The information below summarizes actions taken by Hawaii to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Hawaii has not yet adopted an official statewide adaptation plan, however, the state legislature has called for adaptation planning and state agencies have undertaken other efforts to assess climate vulnerabilities and identify adaptation strategies, described here.

On June 9, 2014, Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie signed House Bill 1714 (now Act 83) establishing an Interagency Climate Adaptation Committee charged with developing a sea-level rise vulnerability and adaptation report addressing statewide impacts through 2050. In 2017, the state legislature passed Senate Bill 559 that renamed the Adaptation Committee as the Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission (“Commission”). The Commission is charged with developing vulnerability and adaptation reports on the effects of sea-level rise and leading the state’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with goals set out in the Paris Agreement. In addition to setting goals and strategies for both mitigation and adaptation, the Commission is charged with identifying climate vulnerabilities across all sectors in Hawaii; assessing existing efforts and capacity of existing resources to address goals; and tracking and reporting on implementation progress.

Vulnerability Assessment and Planning

In December 2017, the Commission released the Hawaii Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report. This report represents the first state-wide vulnerability assessment for sea-level rise hazards in Hawaii and provides statewide adaptation recommendations to reduce Hawaii’s exposure to sea-level rise and to increase the state’s resilience to coastal hazards.

State Agency Actions

State agencies have also been working to prepare for climate impacts to specific sectors:

• Building on the 2017 Hawaii Sea-Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report, the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Office of Planning partnered with the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program to create three complementary tools that support adaptation at the local level. The project is aimed at helping communities prepare for future sea-level rise and other impacts of climate change through the use of three tools that collectively provide valuable data and planning resources for coastal adaptation: an interactive data map — the Hawaii Sea-Level Rise Viewer, and two guidance documents — Integrating Coastal Hazards and Sea-Level Rise Resilience in Community Planning and Guidance for Disaster Recovery Preparedness in Hawaii.
• In December 2015, the Hawaii Climate Change and Health Working Group released its Preliminary Report and Recommendations for addressing climate impacts to public health. The report provides an introduction to the specific impacts that climate change is anticipated to have on public health in Hawaii (including exacerbating respiratory and cardiac problems, heat-related morbidity and mortality, cancer risks, mental health-related impacts, vector-, food- and water-borne diseases and nutritional/food and water security issues). The report also includes recommendations for how the state can develop comprehensive and coordinated adaptation strategies for the state’s public health system.   
• In July 2013, the state incorporated considerations of climate change, sea-level rise, and ocean acidification in the Hawaii Ocean Resources Management Plan, which is the statewide plan that presents the state’s ocean and coastal resource management priorities. The plan includes management priorities for addressing coastal hazards that will be exacerbated by climate change and sea-level rise, including recommendations that the state: support adoption of county laws incorporating best practices for reducing risks from climate impacts and coastal hazards; complete coastal mapping of coastal erosion and sea-level rise; support county and state efforts to develop climate change risk analyses and adaptation strategies for public facilities; and develop indicators for measuring state progress in achieving coastal management goals.
• In 2020, the state released the latest edition of the Hawaii Ocean Resources Management Plan, which updated the state's ocean and coastal resource management priorities. The 2020 Plan readopted the 2013 Plan's Management Priorities and identified specific Focus Areas within the Management Priorities, placing emphasis upon development and coastal hazards, land-based pollution, and marine ecosystems. The 2020 Plan also examines the future of the state's coastal resources and the anthropogenic influences that cause change in the coastal zone. 

State Legislative Actions

The state legislature has also adopted adaptation priorities to guide adaptation activities at the state level. In July 2012, the Hawaii legislature passed SB 2745/HB 2483, which sets climate change adaptation priority guidelines for integrating climate adaptation into statewide planning processes. The law establishes the following adaptation priorities: exploring adaptation strategies that moderate harm or exploit beneficial opportunities in response to actual or expected climate change impacts to the natural and built environments; promoting sector resilience (in areas such as water, roads, airports, and public health) by encouraging the identification of climate change threats, assessment of potential consequences, and evaluation of adaptation options; using adaptive management approaches; and encouraging planning and management of natural and built environments that consider climate change.

The state legislature has also enacted laws to provide financial resources to support adaptation efforts. In 2015, the legislature passed House Bill 444 — An Act Relating to Beach Protection — to allocate $3,000,000 of hotel tax revenues to a special fund supporting the development and implementation of plans to slow the degradation of Hawaii’s beaches; beach restoration and conservation efforts; the coordination of activities across counties; and the formation of public-private partnerships. The legislation allows the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources to include studies about the effects of sea-level rise when developing beach conservation plans. In 2010, through Hawaii Act 73, the state legislature also established the “environmental response, energy, and food security tax,” otherwise known as the “barrel tax,” to provide resources for addressing the effects of climate change in the state. Act 73 increased the per-barrel tax on petroleum products and created a fund for clean energy, agriculture, and adaptation initiatives in Hawaii.

In July 2021, the state passed two related laws to increase sea-level rise resilience in Hawaii. The first, Act 178 (House Bill 243), directs the state’s agencies to collaborate toward identifying state facilities that are vulnerable to sea-level rise, flooding, and natural hazards. Act 178 also requires agencies to assess options to mitigate the impacts of sea-level rise to these facilities. The second, Act 179 (House Bill 474), requires that sellers of real estate located in areas at risk of sea-level rise disclose this information to potential buyers. Policymakers passed the law to ensure that prospective buyers are aware of future risks to property related to sea-level rise. The law expanded Hawaii's real estate disclosure requirements to also mandate that a seller disclose where property falls within a “sea-level rise exposure area,” as determined by the Commission's most recent Hawaii Sea-Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report.

With a Senate Concurrent Resolution (S.C.R. 44) later in July 2021, Hawaii was the first U.S. state to declare an official "climate emergency." Building on the momentum of S.C.R. 44, on July 19, 2021, the Hawaii Commission released a “statement” or guidance on climate-related decisionmaking and investments for the state. In particular, the statement addresses the ways in which federal funding — such as from the American Jobs Plan, the federal Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act, and the Energy Act of 2020 — should be spent to combat the climate crisis, create good-paying jobs, support climate adaptation and resilience, and foster a climate-ready Hawaii.

Within this statement, the Commission announced four Climate Ready Priorities around which investment and decisionmaking should be centered: 

• Ambitiously mitigating greenhouse gases by eliminating and reducing emissions; 
• Preserving cultural, biological, and public resources through different adaptation strategies;  
• Sequestering carbon, producing local foods, and protecting public health and ecosystems; and 
• Adopting nature-based solutions and building resilience to climate change. 

In the statement, the Commission suggests specific initiatives, strategies, and projects to attain each priority. The statement also includes examples of current state and local climate actions already supporting each priority.

To aid local and private sector adaptation efforts, the state has developed an Adaptation Portal to provide information to the public about the impacts of climate change, and adaptation strategies and tools.

This page highlights the actions Hawaii is taking to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Other resources from the Adaptation Clearinghouse, which have been developed and adopted to help Hawaii prepare for the impacts of climate change, are featured in the chart below.

The Georgetown Climate Center’s State Adaptation Progress Tracker, which tracks the progress states are making in preparing for the impacts of climate change, was supported by the MacArthur Foundation.

(Research last updated: August 27, 2021).