City releases Annual Sustainability Report in celebration of Earth Day

News Release from City and County of Honolulu

OʻAHU – The City and County of Honolulu celebrated Earth Day on Monday with the release of the 2024 Annual Sustainability Report and an interactive Skyline tour, showcasing that Earth Day is for everyone.

(IQ Test: Are you laughing?)

The Annual Sustainability Report measures and tracks the City’s performance in meeting established sustainability, energy, and resilience targets and objectives. The report is displayed as a virtual dashboard, allowing users to interact with the data in detail. Both the dashboard and a downloadable PDF are available at resilientoahu.org/sustainabilityreport.

“As shown on our Skyline tour today, the report’s information is more than just data,” said Mayor Rick Blangiardi. “These goals and targets—and our commitment to transparency and reporting to both track progress and take the necessary next steps—are about real impacts and improvements in people’s lives, from parks and affordable transportation, community economic opportunity, to how efficient and effective we are as a City government.”

The report’s release was announced by the Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency (Resilience Office) at a news conference at the Hālawa Aloha Stadium Skyline Station. After the news conference, the Department of Transportation Services, Office of Economic Revitalization, University of Hawaiʻi Community Colleges, and Department of Parks and Recreation gave a Skyline tour, highlighting sustainability projects along the route and near multiple stations.

The report features datasets and equity indicators within the following categories: Sustainable City Operations, Climate Action, Clean & Affordable Transportation, Climate Adaptation & Resilience, Food Security & Sustainability, Sustainable Waste Management, and Disaster Preparedness. Highlights from this year’s report include:

• Municipal water usage decreased nearly 12% in 2023 in large part due to conservation efforts by the Department of Parks and Recreation following calls for conservation from the Board of Water Supply, as well as efficiency upgrades at various parks as part of the department’s energy savings performance contract.
• Municipal electricity usage saw a decline of 6% in 2023 compared to 2022, generated in part due to energy savings performance contracts, which are installing energy efficiency improvements, such as LED light replacements, in over 80 City facilities.
• The number of registered electric vehicles (EVs) continues to rise exponentially—2023 saw a 24% increase in registered EVs compared to 2022, contributing to a 110% increase over the last five years.
• An additional 250 EV chargers were installed around the island in 2023 to keep pace with EV demand, bringing the total number of available non-residential charging points to 791, 46% more charging capacity than in 2022.
• Together, the City and community planted at least 3,679 trees in 2023 as critical infrastructure for heat mitigation and reduced air pollution—the City is more than halfway (58%) toward its community-wide target of planting 100,000 trees by 2025.
• Total waste generated (solid waste and construction and demolition waste) saw a 3.5% decline in 2022 compared to 2021. With the inauguration of the City’s Source Reduction Working Group, the City continues to seek out and prioritize waste reduction solutions in order to achieve its target of 25% reduction in per capita waste generation by 2030.
• The City secured $2.67 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency funding for critical hazard mitigation projects in 2023, representing a 4.6% increase in the amount of funding secured compared to the previous year and continuing a trend of over $2 million awarded each year for the last three years.
• O‘ahu food hub sales are up 32% in 2023 compared to 2022, now at an all-time high of $7.2 million, an encouraging trend after a post-COVID pandemic dip.
• The Report includes new datasets on food security, commercial building benchmarking, and transportation affordability.

“To continue making meaningful sustainability and resilience improvements for our community, we must look back—observe and learn—in order to move forward,” said Matthew Gonser, chief resilience officer and executive director of the Resilience Office. “By tracking action, the Annual Sustainability Report empowers us to take even more action, sharing those successes and challenges with community, and moving us forward for a more equitable, affordable, and climate ready future.

Skyline is featured on the front of this year’s Annual Sustainability Report, as its 2023 grand opening was a historic step forward in expanding transportation choices that are clean and affordable.

In coordination with City agencies, the Resilience Office prepares the City’s Annual Sustainability Report as defined in City Charter Section 6-107(f) and Revised Ordinances of Honolulu Chapter 2, Article 10.15.

To learn how you can contribute to local sustainability efforts, visit resilientoahu.org/getinvolved.

—PAU—