Hawai'i Gov. Green Signs Legislation to Modernize Our Transportation System

July 18, 2026

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(Office of Hawai'i Governor Josh Green) – Governor Josh Green today (July 14, 2026) signed SB 2999, Act 258 and HB 2021, Act 259 into law. The signing of these bills strengthens the administration’s efforts to build a clean energy economy and ensure that Hawai‘i’s laws keep pace with new technologies. The action marks a transition toward cleaner and safer roads in Hawaiʻi that better reflect the needs of our residents and youth.

Transportation connects people to jobs, schools, healthcare and essential services. Keeping our infrastructure aligned with modern safety standards and emissions goals will help create a safer, more sustainable future for generations to come.

SB 2999: RELATING TO A CLEAN FUEL STANDARD
Hawaiʻi’s transportation sector has the greatest potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state by incentivizing the adoption of cleaner fuels to power everyday travel. SB 2999, Act 258, establishes a statewide Clean Fuel Standard designed to cut the carbon intensity of Hawaiʻi’s transportation fuels while opening the door to cleaner alternatives, minimizing the cost of living impacts to Hawaiʻi residents.

By establishing a performance‑based system that rewards cleaner fuels with credits and assigns deficits to more carbon‑intensive fuels, SB 2999 encourages innovation without mandating any single technology. It gives way to public engagement, regular reporting and stakeholder input to ensure accountability throughout the development of the program.

A clean fuel standard supports local agriculture and renewable energy industries and expands markets for homegrown renewable fuels and materials, including options that can turn waste products into energy sources. This transition will incentivize investment and job creation across various sectors, strengthen public and environmental health, improve air quality and bolster energy security.

“A resilient Hawaiʻi is defined by sustainable systems,” said Governor Green. “These investments reinforce a commitment to building co-beneficial models, allowing economic opportunities to give way to a cleaner, low-carbon future.”

The Hawai‘i State Department of Transportation (HDOT) will enforce this standard through a transparent, public rulemaking process and requires full implementation by January 1, 2028. “Governor Green’s signature on SB 2999 empowers HDOT to set a clear, actionable framework for clean fuels that considers all of our state goals including economy and affordability,” said HDOT Director Ed Sniffen.

Under the program, HDOT must set lifecycle emissions‑reduction benchmarks and develop a phased plan that steadily lowers transportation fuel carbon intensity, including reaching at least 10% below 2019 levels by 2035 and 50% below 2019 levels by 2045.

Public engagement, regular reporting and stakeholder input will be shared through HDOT’s Energy Security, Community & Culture Portal throughout the development of the framework.

“This is a huge opportunity to create new reinvestment in lower-cost, cleaner transportation options for local residents, using a model already proven in other states,” said Senator Chris Lee, introducer of SB 2999.

“Transportation remains Hawaiʻi’s biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions and of air pollution that affects public health,” said Representative Nicole E. Lowen, chair of the House Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection. “Establishing a Clean Fuel Standard creates a clear pathway to transition to lower-carbon transportation fuels, improve air quality and support innovative industries that create good-paying jobs here at home.”

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Assets (Courtesy Office of the Governor) – Relating to a Clean Fuel Standard
Video
Photos
Slide deck

The speaker who the Governor introduced just before he signed the bill:
Cristina Cornejo
Sr. Public Affairs Manager
Neste READ MORE

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Mahalo! Hawaii’s Clean Fuel Standard Becomes Law (Biofuels Digest)

Excerpt from Clean Fuels Alliance America: Clean Fuels Alliance America applauds Hawaii Governor Josh Green, M.D., for signing legislation to create a clean fuel standard for the State of Hawaii. This new law will help drive demand and open a new market for biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel while spurring economic opportunity and improving the health of its citizens.

SB2999 tasks the Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) to develop regulations to reduce transportation emissions by 10% from 2019 levels by 2035 and no less than 50% by 2045. HDOT must adopt program rules by Jan. 1, 2028, with implementation beginning Jan. 1, 2029. This technology-neutral and market-based program will generate new opportunities for the fuels industry to help meet these carbon emissions reduction targets.

“As a native of Hawaii, I am thrilled by the state’s leadership in passing the Clean Fuel Standard,” said Cory-Ann Wind, Director of State Regulatory Affairs for Clean Fuels. “It marks a pivotal moment in Hawaii’s commitment to a sustainable future. Cleaner fuels like biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel will play a significant role in helping Hawaii reach its climate goals.”

“Governor Green’s action demonstrates that clean transportation fuels deliver benefits that extend beyond emissions reductions,” said Jeff Earl, Director of State Governmental Affairs for Clean Fuels. “Hawaii’s new Clean Fuel Standard aligns with Governor Green’s Health Beyond Healthcare initiative by recognizing that cleaner air and a healthier environment are essential to improving public health.”

Hawaii becomes the fifth state to pass a clean fuel standard, alongside California, Oregon, Washington and New Mexico.

ABOUT CLEAN FUELS ALLIANCE AMERICA

Made from an increasingly diverse mix of resources such as recycled cooking oil, soybean oil, and animal fats, the clean fuels industry is a proven, integral part of America’s clean energy future. Clean Fuels Alliance America is the U.S. trade association representing the entire biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel supply chain, including producers, feedstock suppliers and fuel distributors. Clean Fuels receives funding from a broad mix of private companies and associations, including the United Soybean Board and state checkoff organizations. READ MORE

Excerpt from Biofuels Digest: Certainly, there are people whose persistence deserves recognition. Senator Chris Lee and Representative Nicole E. Lowen spent years building support for the legislation. Governor Green placed his signature where years of work met opportunity. Transportation Director Ed Sniffen and his colleagues now inherit the painstaking task of transforming legislative language into a functioning market. Renewable fuel producers, farmers, airlines, trucking companies, ports, researchers, entrepreneurs and investors will all play their part. Organizations across the clean fuels community patiently advanced the conversation through years when the outcome was anything but certain.

Every one of them deserves a heartfelt mahalo.

Yet in Hawai’i, gratitude has always seemed to reach beyond people alone.

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Seen through that lens, Hawai’i’s Clean Fuel Standard feels less like a reaction to today’s politics than the latest chapter in a much older story.

Transportation is Hawai’i’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. It is also the state’s largest source of air pollution affecting the health of the people who breathe island air every day. That simple fact helps explain the urgency behind the legislation. Cleaner transportation is not merely an environmental aspiration; it is a public health strategy.

Energy itself has always carried unusual meaning in Hawai’i. Every gallon of gasoline, every drum of jet fuel, every container unloaded at Honolulu Harbor has already completed an extraordinary voyage across the Pacific. Energy is never an abstraction here. It arrives by tanker. It departs through tailpipes, ship funnels and jet engines. Every drop has traveled. Every decision about energy travels, too. The genius of Senate Bill 2999 is that it does not attempt to dictate a single technological future. Instead, it asks a deceptively simple question: which fuels can move people and goods while leaving behind a smaller carbon footprint?

The answer is measured through lifecycle carbon intensity rather than ideology. Fuels that reduce emissions generate credits. Higher-carbon fuels generate deficits. Renewable diesel, biodiesel, sustainable aviation fuel, renewable natural gas, electricity and technologies not yet fully imagined are all invited to compete. Government establishes the destination. Innovation discovers the route.

Governor Green has described this philosophy as building “co-beneficial models”—approaches where healthier communities, stronger economic opportunities and environmental stewardship reinforce one another instead of competing. Hawai’i’s Clean Fuel Standard embodies exactly that idea. Rather than asking residents to choose between prosperity and sustainability, it assumes the two belong together.

That is a remarkably Hawai’ian way of thinking.

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A successful Clean Fuel Standard does more than lower emissions. It creates markets for innovation. It encourages investment in cleaner technologies. It expands opportunities for homegrown renewable fuels and for turning local waste streams into valuable energy resources. Materials once viewed simply as disposal problems may become tomorrow’s transportation fuels. It rewards measurable environmental performance rather than good intentions, creating new opportunities for agriculture, engineering, manufacturing and skilled trades.

Success will ultimately be measured not only in cleaner air but in whether Hawai’i’s families can continue to afford the paradise they call home. The legislation was intentionally designed to minimize cost-of-living impacts while encouraging investment that creates good-paying jobs here at home. That combination of environmental stewardship and economic opportunity is precisely what gives the policy its staying power.

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Keeping coral reefs alive, mountain forests healthy, harbors busy, communities vibrant and families prosperous is the harder task. It requires patience. It requires stewardship. It requires making decisions that honor both today’s needs and tomorrow’s inheritance.

Every civilization eventually writes its deepest values into law. In Hawai’i, those values have never been limited to economic growth alone, nor solely to environmental preservation. They ask a more enduring question: how do we care for the place that cares for us? The Clean Fuel Standard is one answer.

Years from now, few people will remember Senate Bill 2999 by number. They may not remember the exact implementation dates or the mechanics of credits and deficits. What they may remember is that Hawai’i chose a future that allowed the islands to remain prosperous without asking them to become something other than themselves.

One last mahalo.

To the people of Hawaii, certainly. But also to the many friends beyond the islands who quietly helped this day arrive.

The Low Carbon Fuels Coalition worked patiently and persistently toward this outcome, often far from the spotlight. Yet if there is one person I have watched wear out the air miles between Honolulu and the mainland over the years, it is Tim Zenk and his team at Earth Finance. While others were making speeches, Tim was usually catching another flight, sitting through another meeting, building another relationship, solving another problem. He’ll probably be the last person to ask for recognition, which is precisely why he deserves a little. Mahalo, Tim — and to all those, including Team Neste, who worked behind the scenes. READ MORE