The state of Hawaii and city of Honolulu have won a combined $4 million from the federal government to help develop plans to battle climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and pollution.
The funding—$1 million to Honolulu and $3 million to the state—was announced Thursday in Honolulu by Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Martha Guzman.
“There’s a tremendous amount of leadership here in Honolulu and the state of Hawaii to really plan for climate action, and these funds will help accelerate that, ” Guzman said.
The Climate Pollution Reduction Grants come from a $250 million pot of money that will be distributed to state and local governments across the country and are part of a two-phase initiative.
The funding will enable grantees to develop or update existing climate, energy or sustainability plans and apply for a portion of $4.75 billion in implementation funds in the spring.
Honolulu already has a climate action plan that was adopted in 2021. The plan outlines nine strategies and 47 actions for Oahu to pursue over five years. Strategies include electrifying the city fleet, enabling and providing different modes of green transportation and promoting waste prevention.
Matthew Gonser, the city’s chief resilience officer, said $300, 000 already has been allocated for a plan update, and the extra $1 million will allow for a more comprehensive effort.
“We really see it as a great chance to do more targeted, deeper community engagement, stakeholder engagement and to ramp up the technical analysis, ” Gonser said.
As for the state, the Hawaii Climate Change Miti gation and Adaptation Commission is set to coordinate efforts that aim to score a substantial share of the implementation funds.
“We are hoping to receive funding for a wide range of projects, from large scale statewide implementation to community-led mitigation actions, ” Leah Laramee, climate commission coordinator, said in a news release Also announced Thursday was the $7 billion Solar for All program, which will allow state and local governments and some nonprofits to compete for 60 grants to expand the number of low-income and disadvantaged communities that could use solar energy projects. The program is designed to bring affordable solar to millions of families, officials said.
Thursday’s announcements, held at the Honolulu Fire Department headquarters auditorium, were attended by Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi, U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono and U.S. Rep. Ed Case. The grant funds came from the Inflation Reduction Act, which both Hirono and Case voted for.
Hirono said Guzman and her staff told her there are some states where you can’t even use the words “climate change.”
“Hawaii is not one of those states, ” she said to laughs. “So we are going to make the most of everything that is available to us from all of these programs.”
The event was part of the “Investing in America ” tour featuring senior members of the Biden administration who are traveling across the country to promote federal investments in the local community.
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland came to Hawaii last week to announce $16 million in federal funding to help save Hawaii’s imperiled forest birds.
