The Twenty-Fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii determined that Hawaii must do its share in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions as the state’s per capita emissions are similar to other U.S. states, even though they are a small part of the world’s output. Section 7 of Act 234, 2007 Session Laws of Hawaii required the Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Task Force to submit to the Legislature a work plan and regulatory scheme for achieving the maximum practically and technically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from sources or categories of sources of greenhouse gases to at or below 1990 levels of emissions by year 2020. The REMI macroeconomic model calculated the three proposed Work Plans for their impacts on gross regional product, employment and real disposable income. The economic impacts of all three Work Plans were positive compared to the Reference Projection, but in all three cases the impacts were relatively small. This commitment was one of a long series of initiatives by the State of Hawaii to reduce its dependence on energy imports, improve efficiency, and displace conventional fossil fuels with renewable energy sources.
