Under what legal experts called a “historic” settlement, announced on Thursday, Hawaii officials will release a roadmap “to fully decarbonize the state’s transportation systems, taking all actions necessary to achieve zero emissions no later than 2045 for ground transportation, sea and inter-island air transportation”, Andrea Rodgers, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the case, said at a press conference with the governor.
More details below. This is thrilling, thanks for posting, OP.
"“You have a constitutional right to fight for life-sustaining climate policy and you have mobilized our people in this case,” Josh Green, the Hawaii governor, told the 13 young plantiffs in the case, saying he hoped the settlement would inspire similar action across the country...
“This is an extraordinary, unprecedented victory for the youth plaintiffs,” Michael Gerrard, the faculty director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, told the Guardian.
While Hawaii has long embraced a progressive climate change agenda, with 2045 as a target year for decarbonization, the new settlement is “as big a deal as everyone said it is”, said Denise Antolini, an emeritus professor of law at the University of Hawaii Law School, who has followed climate change litigation for decades.
“It’s written down, it’s enforceable, and that makes all in the difference in the world between a promise and actual implementation,” Antolini said...
The plaintiffs, most of whom are Indigenous, alleged that by contributing to the climate crisis, the state hastened the “decline and disappearance of Hawaii’s natural and cultural heritage”. When the case was filed, the plantiffs were between the ages of nine and 18...
Officials said the legal settlement brings together activists with all three branches of the state’s government to focus on meeting climate change goals, including mobilizing the judicial branch. The court will oversee the settlement agreement through 2045 or until the state reaches its zero emission goals, Rodgers said.
“We have extremely tough goals to hit by 2045 and this is going to make sure we move forward much faster,” Ed Sniffen, the head of the state’s transportation department said at a press conference...
State officials often claim Hawaii is a climate leader. In 2015, it became the first US state to require its electric utilities to zero out its power sector emissions by 2045 – a tall order in a state that has historically obtained most of its energy from oil and coal.
The state legislature has also passed a goal of decarbonizing the transportation sector. And Hawaii’s 2050 sustainability plan calls to make all state vehicles carbon free by 2035.
But the state has moved in the wrong direction. Between 2020 and 2021, carbon emissions in Hawaii increased by more than 16%. The plaintiffs say Hawaii’s department of transportation has missed every interim benchmark to reduce its planet-warming emissions since 2008. And per capita, Hawaii emits more carbon than 85% of countries on Earth, attorneys wrote in the 2022 lawsuit."
-via The Guardian, June 20, 2024
