Community Voices: Hawai‘i climate policy going overboard on cruise ships

Hawai‘i has a problem.

When the only plan to accomplish certain goals is to put people out of work and damage the state’s economy, you know we have to look for a better way.

My latest case in point is the new climate roadmap from the state Department of Transportation, which calls for reducing cruise ship visitors to Hawai‘i by 2030 and possibly eliminating them completely by 2040.

Under the plan, the DOT is supposed to decarbonize every transportation sector in Hawai‘i, but there aren’t a lot of options when it comes to maritime emissions. It can’t do anything about emissions from military operations, and you could imagine how it would cripple the state to reduce commercial cargo shipments.

The only remaining option is to get rid of cruise ships, and that is exactly what the DOT is aiming to do. If successful, it would mean saying goodbye to the $63 million and up to 250,000 visitors brought in by cruise ships every year.

That would be especially hard on small businesses throughout the Islands that depend on cruise ship visitors. But they wouldn’t be the only ones affected. Drops in tourism ripple through the economy and ultimately affect businesses far outside the visitor sector.

Incidentally, barring cruise ships from visiting Hawai‘i would be just the tip of the iceberg. The DOT also wants to reduce emissions from aviation and ground transportation.

According to its report, both of those options would rely heavily on Hawai‘i switching to electric vehicles, which overlooks the continuing questions about battery disposal and the fact that Matson announced just this week that it will stop shipping electric vehicles to Hawai‘i due to “rising safety concerns over lithium-ion battery fires at sea.”

Ultimately, this situation illustrates the drawback of trying to achieve climate goals via government-mandated deadlines and inflexible requirements.

The state’s policies toward tourism are in a problematic state as it is. But any climate goal that cannot incorporate the need to grow and prosper — such as by accommodating cruise ships — is clearly a red flag.

Reprinted with permission from the July 20, 2025 "Presidentʻs Corner" of Grassroot Institute of Hawai‘i President & CEO Keli‘i Akina, Ph.D.

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up here for our free Daily Edition newsletter!