Hawaiʻi has an opportunity to shape a ‘new normal’ emerging from COVID-19 with recovery strategies guided by green growth principles and shared island values. Green growth recovery can stimulate the economy and create new employment opportunities while supporting community well-being and environmental stewardship. The Hawai‘i Green Growth Local2030 Hub conducted a network-wide survey to help inform the community and policymakers on potential green growth projects and investment opportunities that can aid Hawaiʻi’s COVID-19 recovery. 

The HGG Network survey identified over 230 green growth projects and 150 education and training programs aligned with the Aloha+ Challenge, which totaled an opportunity to create an estimated 9,300 jobs across diverse sectors statewide for $585 million. The working list of “ready to go” green growth projects was compiled directly from diverse stakeholder input into the survey, with initiatives that cut across the Aloha+ Challenge – Hawai‘i’s local model to deliver against the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Hawai‘i’s Aloha+ Challenge provides a framework to ‘build back better’, with concrete benchmarks and data measured through an online Dashboard, and diverse network committed to a more resilient, sustainable and equitable future.

The results of the network survey are available on the Aloha+ Challenge Dashboard, and the HGG Network Survey remains open at the request of partners to allow input on additional projects and priorities. The data on the Dashboard will be updated as new information and details become available, and the results will be shared with decision-makers to help inform recovery planning and action.

Mahalo to all survey respondents for your time and mana‘o and to network partners that collaborated on this survey, including the State Hawai‘i Tourism Authority, Chamber of Commerce, Hawai‘i Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations (HANO), Kua ʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo (KUA), Hawai‘i Alliance for Community-Based Economic Development (HACBED), Institute of Sustainability and Resilience (ISR) at University of Hawai‘i Mānoa, Hawai‘i Public Health Institute, Anthology Group, Sultan Ventures and county partners.