Hawaii kids reach landmark climate change settlement with state government

The settlement will require the state Transportation Department to explicitly consider greenhouse gas emissions from projects it approves, among other things.

Wow — hours after launching and already some big Landmark news. What a coincidence! Pictured above is a burned car after last year’s Maui wildfires, courtesy of State Farm.

Thirteen young people who sued Hawaii over government policies they claim exacerbate climate change reached a landmark settlement with the state on Thursday that aims to push the state’s transportation system away from oil and gas toward cleaner fuels. 

The first-of-its-kind agreement was announced by Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, a Democrat, alongside other state officials, some of the young plaintiffs and their lawyers. The deal will require the state to create a roadmap to meet clean energy goals by encouraging clean energy transportation, among other things.

Green — whose state had already set a 2045 deadline to be pulling out more greenhouse gases from the atmosphere than are emitted in the state — called the settlement “groundbreaking.”

“We are the most isolated land mass on the planet. We’re too dependent on fossil fuels. We’re vulnerable to climate change impacts,” he said. "And I hope others will follow this lead.”

And now, let’s get into some of the details, and what it all means.

What is the Hawaii government agreeing to here? The announcement came days before a trial was scheduled to start in the case on Monday, which may have put a state that promotes its climate bonafides in a somewhat awkward position.

Lawyers for the state said Thursday that the agreement includes a requirement to develop and implement a detailed roadmap within the next year to ensure the state meets the 2045 decarbonization ambitions and works on climate mitigation. The state will also reassess those plans at regular intervals.

The settlement also encourages expanding the state’s pedestrian, public transport and bicycle path networks, and encourages the growth of the state’s electric vehicle charging network with a minimum of $40 million in investments.

And another important provision of the settlement requires the state’s Department of Transportation to explicitly consider the greenhouse gas emissions from projects it approves in the state, the lawyers said.

Green also signed bills encouraging the development of clean energy sources in the state. The settlement does not include any monetary payment from the state to the lawyers for the kids.

Why does this matter? The agreement comes less than a year after a group of Montana youth secured a major legal victory in their climate change lawsuit against the state over its energy policies. But it also came shortly after key legal losses for youth plaintiffs in similar cases against the U.S. government.

The most famous of those losses is the Juliana v. United States lawsuit in Oregon federal court. The case was dismissed by a California-based three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month after the judges determined climate change is the type of thing that the political branches of government (not the judiciary) are best positioned to address. (The 21 young people suing in Juliana just this week asked a bigger group of judges on the 9th Circuit to reconsider).

The victories in Montana and now Hawaii undoubtedly add momentum to the kids' climate change legal movement. Battles continue to be fought in other states, like Alaska.

“Hawaii’s leadership will offer a model for states and countries across the world to start tackling transportation emissions.” said Andrea Rogers, an attorney for the young people at the nonprofit law firm Our Children’s Trust, on Thursday.

She continued: “What we see today is democracy in action. With the coming together of all three branches of government, led by our youth who activated our courts when their rights were in danger.”

What’s the history of this lawsuit — and what have they argued? The case, Navahine F. v. Hawai’i Department of Transportation, was filed in state court in 2022 by 13 young people who say the state’s transportation system is operated in a way that allows high levels of greenhouse gas emissions. That in turn exacerbates the climate crisis, and hurts their ability to “live healthful lives in Hawai’i now and into the future.”

The youth are represented by lawyers at Our Children’s Trust and Earthjustice. They have argued management of the state’s transportation system infringes on the youths’ state constitutional right to a “clean and healthful environment” and the state constitution’s public trust doctrine that obligates the government to conserve and protect Hawaii’s natural resources and beauty.

Who are these kids? The young plaintiffs hail from across the state, and include indigenous youth and kids whose families have lived and worked in Hawaii for generations. They see climate change as a huge threat — sea level rise is devastating coastal resources, increased rains are causing flash floods that carry away roads, drought is killing native plants and making wildfires more likely. 

Among the youth plaintiffs at the press conference on Thursday were Kaliko T. and Pahonu C. (last names omitted since they are minors).

Kaliko’s family was displaced after a hurricane lifted their home off its foundation in 2018, and her family continues to be impacted by droughts that make it harder to grow subsistence crops. She also suffers from climate anxiety (a phenomenon that appears to be growing among young people).

Pahonu meanwhile has also been seeing climate change erode away at his way of life. The sandy beaches he loves are being stripped away and a ramp his family has used to launch boats is now submerged.