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A February 2026 survey of 749 registered Hawai‘i voters reveals that 85% view rising homeowners insurance costs as a serious problem, with 79% of homeowners experiencing rate increases in the last 2-3 years. While voters attribute these increases to various factors, including insurance industry profits (31%) and climate change (19%), there is significant support for state intervention. Specifically, 82% favor greater regulations to limit policy cancellations, and 61% support legislation allowing the State of Hawai‘i to sue oil and gas companies to recover insurance-related costs stemming from extreme weather disasters worsened by climate change.

Earthjustice is challenging a decision by Chair Dawn N.S. Chang of the Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM) to allow the use of potable groundwater for irrigating the Kapalua Bay and Plantation Golf Courses. Earthjustice argues that this action was unilateral, unlawful, and violates the State Water Code, as the golf courses are not listed as existing groundwater users in the relevant permit applications. The document highlights that this water use continues despite a severe drought in West Maui and strict water restrictions for community members. Earthjustice cites a memorandum from CWRM Deputy Director Ciara W.K. Kahahane stating that groundwater should not be used for golf course irrigation and that such use was not occurring at the time of the area's designation as a Water Management Area in August 2022.

The report examines the vulnerabilities of the US power grid to climate change, highlighting how extreme heat, wildfires, winter storms, and hurricanes cause widespread outages. It argues that current planning focuses on reliability under typical conditions rather than resilience to high-impact, low-frequency events. The authors emphasize that structural inequities, such as the legacy of redlining, leave low-income communities and people of color disproportionately vulnerable to the life-threatening consequences of power loss. The document recommends that regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and independent system operators (ISOs) adopt forward-looking climate risk assessments, integrate energy justice principles, and reform economic metrics like the Value of Lost Load (VOLL) to prioritize human vulnerability over economic activity.

The paper examines the security implications of geoengineering, distinguishing between long-term risks of unilateral deployment and near-term risks involving geopolitical competition and misinformation. It highlights how a lack of trust between the Global North and South, combined with strategic competition between powers like the US, China, and Russia, could lead to states attributing natural disasters to perceived geoengineering attempts. Drawing on historical examples like Project Popeye and the 1978 ENMOD treaty, the author argues against a total ban on geoengineering, suggesting instead that the US lead the development of transparent, civilian-led guardrails and robust science diplomacy to mitigate these risks while continuing the transition from fossil fuels.

The EESI 2023 Climate, Environmental, and Energy Congressional Hearings Tracker catalogs hearings across numerous House and Senate committees. House activity was led by the Natural Resources (28 hearings) and Energy and Commerce (24 hearings) committees, focusing on energy security, grid reliability, and critical minerals. Senate activity was prominent in the Environment and Public Works (22 hearings) and Budget (10 hearings) committees, with a strong emphasis on the economic costs of climate change, infrastructure resilience, and the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The U.S. experienced a record 28 billion-dollar disasters in 2023, causing over $93 billion in damages. Since 1980, tropical cyclones have been the costliest events, while severe storms are the most frequent. The document details how warming temperatures intensify specific hazards—such as increasing rainfall intensity and fueling stronger tropical cyclones—and notes that the average time between such disasters has shrunk from 82 days in the 1980s to 12 days in 2023.

The report details how Hawaii is experiencing accelerating climate crises, specifically through extreme drought, intense tropical storms, sea level rise, and increasing temperatures. It provides comprehensive lists of potential costs for mitigation and adaptation, ranging from water management and wildfire suppression to floodproofing infrastructure and public health interventions.

The voluntary carbon market (VCM) is currently hindered by subjective data, lack of transparency, and burdensome processes. To realize its potential for climate finance, the market must shift toward objective measurement using digital and satellite technologies, adopt transparent pricing, and establish a consensus on credit quality through improved certification and governance models.

The briefing challenges three myths regarding the role of renewables and distributed energy resources (DERs) in Puerto Rico's grid recovery. It asserts that renewables and energy storage are now cost-competitive with fossil fuels, with energy storage costs dropping 70 percent between 2010 and 2016. The text highlights that renewable infrastructure proved more durable than transmission networks during the 2017 hurricanes, noting that 90 percent of utility-scale solar and wind capacity remained operational or ready. Furthermore, it argues that these technologies can be deployed quickly, citing examples of large-scale storage projects completed in months, and recommends a coordinated effort by the Puerto Rico government and utility to prioritize these projects for a more resilient energy future.

Community groups Moms On a Mission Hui and Pō‘ai Wai Ola allege that HDOA and ADC have failed to implement Title VI compliance programs, leading to discriminatory adverse effects on Native Hawaiian populations. The complaint highlights the lack of pesticide registration limits, the absence of mandatory buffer zones, and a failure to enforce federal and state pesticide laws. It specifically points to the high concentration of genetically engineered seed crops in West Kaua‘i and Moloka‘i, where Native Hawaiian populations are proportionally higher than the state average. Additionally, the complaint cites ADC's operation of an unpermitted drainage ditch system on the Mānā Plain that discharges pollutants into waters used by Native Hawaiians. The complainants request that the EPA and USDA conduct compliance reviews and require the agencies to develop implementation plans to mitigate these discriminatory impacts.

The report by Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD) analyzes the persistence of climate disinformation across digital platforms, highlighting how Big Tech infrastructure enables the spread of false narratives regarding renewable energy, extreme weather events, and fossil fuel industry claims. It details a growing crisis in researcher access to platform data and provides a set of policy recommendations to dismantle the 'economy of disinformation'.

The Green Energy Money $aver (GEM$) program, launched in April 2019 by the Hawaii Green Infrastructure Authority (HGIA), provides on-bill financing for clean energy upgrades to approximately 95 percent of Hawaii's population via Hawaiian Electric Companies (HECO) customers. The program targets low-to-medium income (LMI) households—specifically those earning less than 140 percent of the area median income—to democratize access to solar PV and energy efficiency measures. By tying repayment to the utility meter rather than the individual, GEM$ allows for repayment terms up to 20 years and enables the transfer of obligations between tenants or owners, overcoming the rental split incentive. In its first nine months, the program funded $6.6 million in solar PV projects, with 78 percent benefiting LMI customers, resulting in 1.6 megawatts of installed capacity and 12,000 metric tons of projected avoided greenhouse gases. The program is funded by the Green Energy Market Securitization (GEMS) program and is the first of its kind operated by a green bank.

The report outlines 17 specific measures to protect the integrity of environmental information in France. These include institutionalizing the monitoring of media coverage via the Observatoire des Médias sur l’Ecologie, protecting environmental spokespeople from harassment, and integrating climate disinformation as a systemic risk under the EU's Digital Services Act. It advocates for stronger editorial safeguards against shareholder conflicts of interest, mandatory 'climate contracts' to fight greenwashing, and specialized training for public officials, journalists, and students. Internationally, it urges France to lead the Global Initiative for Climate Information Integrity (GI3C) and coordinate with European regulators via the EU Media Board.