Hawaii is part of the US Climate Alliance, an entity created last week by the governors of California, New York and Washington state to share information, environmental best practices and implement new programs “to reduce carbon emissions from all sectors of the economy.”

“While the President’s actions are a shameful rebuke to the work needed to protect our planet for our children and grandchildren, states have been and will continue to step up,” Washington Gov. Video provided by Newsy Hawaii Gov. In 2015, 195 countries agreed in Paris to set individual targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with the shared goal of limiting the rise in average global temperatures to less than 2 degrees Celsius. Hawaii has become the first U.S. state to enact legislation to bring its environmental standards in line with the Paris climate accord, officials said on Wednesday, less than a week after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the global agreement. David Ige has signed legislation boosting the state's drive toward the commitments of the Paris climate accord despite the Trump administration decision to withdraw the United States from the global agreement. Following Trump’s announcement, numerous states and cities across the United States vowed to continue honoring the goals of the Paris Agreement. Ige signed a separate bill Tuesday establishing a Carbon Farming Task Force, aimed at identifying "agricultural and aquacultural practices to improve soil health and promote carbon sequestration."
The state of Hawaii becomes the first state to enact a law, to document sea level rise and set strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, that aligns the state's goals with the Paris climate accord. Governor David Ige says the islands are seeing the impacts of climate change first-hand.