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The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its highly anticipated  last week, providing key insights gained through seven years of research on emerging climate science, comments from experts and heated debates between governments.

This report, like all IPCC reports, will form the basis of most major international climate negotiations in the coming years.

Some of its findings were grim, yet predictable. Climate change is real. We’re causing it. The impacts are worse than we thought. And despite unprecedented commitments, we’re not doing nearly enough to mitigate or adapt.

If you’re like me and your low-grade yet ever-present fear of climate-induced extinction is tempting you to click away, hold on. 

Rather than a terror-filled reminder of our impending doom, the  adopts a Barack Obama “Yes, We Can” tone that’s both urgent and encouraging. The report shows that “the pace and scale of what has been done so far, and current plans, are insufficient.”

However, “feasible, effective, and low-cost options for mitigation and adaptation are already available.” According to the IPCC chair, “if we act now, we can still secure a livable sustainable future for all.”

Hope? Change? Hell, yes, we can.

Since my dreams of scientific genius collapsed with my fourth grade cardboard volcano, I recommend that you read more about the report’s impressive scientific findings elsewhere.

The  and  both offer infinitely better recaps than I can. So instead, I’d like to offer a few observations about how our state stacks up to three of the IPCC’s top-line statements.

1. Our current progress is real and essential.

Hawaii has led many of these pledges and commitments. We were the first state to codify the Paris Agreement and declare an official climate emergency. We also set landmark goals to achieve a 100% renewable portfolio standard and net-negative emissions by 2045. And if  passes, we’ll add zero-emissions transportation goals to our list.

While I once feared these pledges were mostly optics, I see now that they’ve given us a collective vision to work toward. As of 2022, Hawaii was on track years ahead of our 2030 benchmark, with hydroelectric, solar, wind and geothermal sources currently in use. We’re also adding electric vehicles to our government fleets, creating tools to help plan for sea-level rise, and working to improve our food security.

Like our counterparts in other states and nations, we know what needs to be done, and we’ve made investments in progress. But it’s not enough.

2. As always, a lack of funding is holding us back.

The IPCC estimates that funding for climate action needs to be three to six times greater than the current global investment to keep warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. That’s the target countries agreed in signing the Paris Agreement in 2015.

We have cost-effective, proven solutions to tackle the climate crisis, but countries, states and communities can’t implement them at a sufficient scale without financial support.

Hawaii’s need is no different, and  states it clearly. After touting the Legislature’s past climate initiatives, the bill reads, “Even with this clear commitment from the Legislature in taking climate action, the state offices tasked with natural resource protection continue to lack sufficient resources.”

While its fate and funding are still unclear, it is one of few measures to appropriate funds for climate change mitigation and adaptation. And, since Speaker Scott Saiki and 39 other House Democrats introduced it, I’d say it’s a pretty strong signal that money is available for climate action this session.

Unfortunately for Gov. Josh Green, that money will unlikely go toward funding his Climate Impact Special Fund. His , increase climate-related personnel and institute a Visitor Green Fee have stalled. Without Green’s Climate Impact Special Fund, the Legislature must act quickly through its own measures to ensure funding to climate-proof our infrastructure, boost community resilience and implement plans for properties lost to the rising sea. 

For now, the most significant investment sits with , which seeks to make cost-saving renewable technologies more affordable and accessible to asset-limited, income-constrained, employed, or ALICE, households through a low-interest loan program. The House included $300 million for the program in its . So far, it’s my favorite of this session’s climate and energy bills because it touches on something we’ve all missed for too long.

3. Our advances have been distributed unequally and could exacerbate inequity.

The IPCC points out that fairness must be a part of the solution. Countries that contributed the least to climate change are now suffering the most. They also have the least access to funds to mitigate impacts and adapt their communities. Hawaii’s lowest-income earners weren’t spared that injustice either.

We have been rightly aggressive in implementing initiatives to reach our climate goals. Still, we should have paid more attention to the fact that an incentive for a wealthy household doesn’t work the same for mid-to-low-income earners.

This failure is on display every morning while people who bought the only car they could afford inch forward on the H-2 watching their wages tick away on their gas gauge as single-occupancy, government-subsidized Teslas race past them in the HOV lane. 

Sure, federal tax credits for EVs are open to anyone. But, at an average price of $59,000, more than the $7,500 maximum credit is needed to bridge the gap. Similarly, low-interest loans and rebate programs assume that a family living paycheck-to-paycheck will have the time, credit and access to information that would allow them to take advantage of those programs.

To make our renewable transition fair and equitable, we must look at more generous programs that provide no-interest loans or replace old appliances for free. As the IPCC points out, we will only meet our climate goals if we meet them together. 

In a joint opinion piece stressing fairness, financing and swift climate action, key IPCC report contributors Frank Jotzo and Mark Howden wrote, “It must be done. It can be done. By and large, we know how to do it – and it makes economic sense to do so.” 

In other words, nothing is stopping us but us.

Civil Beat’s coverage of climate change is supported by the Environmental Funders Group of the Hawaii Community Foundation, Marisla Fund of the Hawaii Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation.