HONOLULU — The State of Hawaii and City and County of Honolulu have been awarded a combined $4 million in federal grants for climate change mitigation planning that could help secure a share of some $4.6 billion in implementation funding.
Environmental Protection Agency regional director Martha Guzman announced the awards Thursday at a news conference at the Honolulu Fire Department headquarters on South Street. Guzman was joined by U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, U.S. Rep. Ed Case, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi and state and county department heads.
In March, the EPA announced the availability of funds from the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program (created by the Inflation Reduction Act) for states, local governments, tribes and territories.
The funds are intended to help develop strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution in ways that maximize benefits, especially for low-income and disadvantaged communities. According to Guzman, $4.6 billion in funding will follow later this year to help implement CPRG planning grants, programs and projects that are ready to go. EPA regional offices are expected to award funding agreements later this summer.
By accepting the planning grant, Hawaii is eligible for implementation funding. The Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission, co-chaired by DLNR and the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, will coordinate efforts to obtain implementation funding.
“This grant will support the state’s efforts to plan innovative strategies to address climate pollution and build clean energy economies,” said Dawn Chang, chair of the Department of Land and Natural Resources and co-chair of the Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission. “It will also enable the climate commission with the capacity to support our local partners and communities to utilize these funds, including through culturally appropriate approaches. More importantly, this grant enables the state to compete for the larger federal funding to implement many of these innovative strategies to mitigate climate change impacts and transition Hawaii to a clean energy economy and sustainable environment.”
Blangiardi said the city is likewise prepared to submit a climate action plan for consideration for implementation funding. He said the plan would be guided by three basic principles.
“We understand the whole notion that climate change (mitigation) can be expensive and we are interested in creating savings, not more expense,” he said. “Secondly, we want to leverage our federal resources and today is a good example of that on a going-forward basis. We need that support. And lastly, we want to collaborate with key partners and produce the best results for our residents.”
According to the EPA, climate plans need to include greenhouse gas emissions inventories; emissions projections and reduction targets; economic, health and social benefits, including to low-income and disadvantaged communities; plans to leverage other sources of federal funding, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act; workforce needs to support decarbonization and a clean energy economy; and future government staffing and budget needs.
“There’s a tremendous amount of leadership here in Honolulu and in the State of Hawaii to really plan for climate action and these funds will accelerate that and help make more of these large- and small-scale infrastructure priorities possible,” Guzman said.
Guzman also discussed the newly announced $7 billion Solar for All grant competition, an initiative funded through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund that aims to expand the number of low-income and disadvantaged communities primed for residential solar investment by awarding up to 60 grants to states, territories, tribal governments, municipalities and eligible nonprofits to create and expand low-income solar programs that provide financing and technical assistance to enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy and benefit from residential solar.
The state has until the end of the month to apply for grant funding. The city and county must apply no later than Aug. 14.
“We are in a very quick time turnaround even though it’s a huge amount of money,” Guzman said. “This is an opportunity, but it’s a quick one.”
Gwen Yamamoto Lau, executive director of the Hawaii Green Infrastructure Authority, said the state is prepared to submit an application for a Solar for All grant in hopes of expanding its existing financing program to help underserved homeowners and renters who have been unable to access affordable solar.
“The solar energy grant will also be used for asset and capacity building as well as workforce development and increasing resiliency in our disadvantaged communities statewide,” Yamamoto Lau said. “Over the past year, inflation, the war in Ukraine and other factors have disproportionately negatively impacted low-income households across Hawaii, significantly increasing their electric utility and other bills. Our disadvantaged households should not have to choose between paying their electric bill and putting food on the table. We’re truly grateful for the funding opportunities like the Solar for All program, which will help us facilitate an equitable and just clean energy transition and lower the energy burden for our most vulnerable ratepayers.”
Case hailed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and the Inflation Reduction Act for providing what he called generational opportunities to address critical, long-standing issues and emphasized the urgency in taking advantage of an unprecedented investment of federal funds to combat climate change.
“The bottom line here is we are focusing on generational issues that have been neglected for a long time—our failing infrastructure, climate change,” he said. “We see record heat around the world. We see king tides that are supercharged by higher levels. These all impact us right here in Hawaii and these need this reinvestment. Your federal government under President (Joe) Biden’s leadership is providing the opportunities for attacking those challenges.
“But it’s up to us here in Hawaii to organize themselves and to pursue these opportunities so that we take full advantage of them,” he said.
Citing the state’s commitment to 100% renewable energy by 2045, Hirono said that Hawaii has the most ambitious energy and climate change mitigation goals in the country and is poised to “make the most of everything that is available to us.”
“The main thing today is climate change is recognized as a major challenge in Hawaii and through the inflation Reduction Act we have more federal resources that can be brought to bear to enable our state and our counties to deal with climate change than ever before in the history of our country,” Hirono said. “We have to take advantage of it, though. We have to apply for the grants and thankfully we have already have the planning money.
“The (regional administrator’s) presence here this week is yet another example of how the federal government brings its resources, its people, to Hawaii and we work in partnership and collaboration to address the issues that we face in Hawaii and in our times,” she said.