This information is provided as a baseline from which to measure future progress. This is an editorial assessment of selected outcomes, based on public evidence available through September 26, 2026. It is not an official rating or a calculated index. The scope is statewide except where a utility, program, or Hawaiʻi Island example is identified. Each figure retains its reporting year; older observations and projections are not presented as 2026 measurements.

• Overall assessment D+
  We are making measurable progress in renewable electricity and watershed protection. The broader economy still falls short on material recovery, school-food purchasing, pollution control, and housing affordability. The evidence does not yet establish that Hawaiʻi is a circular or regenerative economy. This D+ reflects the number and scale of unresolved shortfalls.
  
• Materials and waste D
  In fiscal year 2024, the Department of Health reported a statewide recycling and bioconversion diversion rate of 26.5%, compared with 25.4% in FY2020. Hawaiʻi County reached 32.6%. Adding incineration raises the statewide figure to 52.1%, but combustion does not keep the burned material in circulation. The report also warns that some recycling data are incomplete. These figures describe reported waste flows, not the circularity of every material entering the economy.

• Renewable electricity B
  Hawaiian Electric reported 36.8% renewable generation in 2025 across its service areas, including 57.3% on Hawaiʻi Island. Kauaʻi’s separate utility reported 52.8%. These are operating results, and they deserve credit. The grade is specifically for renewable electricity deployment. It does not establish that transportation is decarbonized, electricity is affordable to every household, or generation equipment is recovered at the end of its life. Hawaiian Electric’s renewable accounting also includes waste-to-energy.
  
• The published climate trajectory D.
  The state’s April 2025 emissions report projects 15.51 million metric tons of net carbon-dioxide-equivalent emissions in 2030, against a target of 11.39 million. That is about 36% above the target, calculated from the report’s figures. This is a projection, not an observed 2030 outcome or a 2026 inventory. Its accounting includes domestic and military aviation but excludes international bunker fuels. The state did meet its earlier 2020 target, which used a different boundary excluding aviation; that achievement cannot establish compliance with the broader 2030 goal.
  
• Local school food D.
  DOE reports that local products accounted for 6.5% of School Food Services Branch food spending in school year 2024–25, up from the 5.4% cited for 2023–24 in the March 2026 audit. Both remain below the 10% benchmark due January 1, 2025. The audit found weak planning and an inability to independently verify distributor data. New small-farm purchasing and regular poi offerings in 2026 are constructive steps; a verified annual result is still needed to establish their effect. This grade concerns school purchasing, not all Hawaiʻi agriculture. Local origin alone also does not establish regenerative farming.
  
• Watershed protection C.
  The Climate Commission’s FY2025 reporting estimates that 22% of priority watersheds are protected, toward a 30% goal by 2030. This supports credit for conservation work and expanded protection. It does not establish that water quality, native species, soil condition, or forest resilience are improving everywhere. The next level of accountability is repeated measurement of those conditions within protected areas, coupled with sustained management. This grade concerns the protection program; it is not a statewide biodiversity score.
  
• Cesspool pollution control D.
  EPA’s page updated September 4, 2026, continues to estimate approximately 88,000 cesspools in Hawaiʻi. It also reports monitoring the closure of more than 3,902 large-capacity cesspools over the enforcement program’s history. Those closures are real progress, but they are not an annual statewide conversion count and should not be subtracted from the estimate to invent a current balance. DOH lists a new statewide conversion loan program as under development. A higher grade requires documented completion of high-priority conversions and reduced pollution reaching groundwater and reefs.
  
• Resident housing D
  UHERO’s May 2026 Housing Factbook reports modest improvement in affordability, but only roughly one in five households has the income needed to afford the median-priced single-family home under its mortgage assumptions. The calculation assumes a 20% down payment and a 30-year mortgage; it does not establish that households have the down payment. Condominium affordability has improved more, although insurance and association fees weaken the gains. These findings warrant a poor grade for resident housing access. They do not, on their own, measure every household’s ability to remain in Hawaiʻi or explain each decision to leave.
  
• Regenerative tourism Incomplete
  Hawaiʻi Island’s 2026–28 destination plan reports that, in the spring 2025 resident survey, 51% agreed tourism brought more benefits than problems and 29% felt they had a voice in tourism-development decisions. These are island-specific perception measures, not statewide ecological outcomes. The plan’s implementation reporting remains forthcoming on its public page. Community participation and site management deserve scrutiny and support, but a regenerative claim also needs demonstrated improvements in ecosystems, resident well-being, and local authority, with tourism’s wider impacts included. An incomplete grade keeps the burden of proof attached to the claim.
  

The next report card should be easier to audit. Public agencies should publish comparable annual results that distinguish spending, completed work, and lasting improvement. A defensible claim of regeneration would show that ecological recovery and residents’ material security persist over time, while identifying remaining harm. Until those results are established, the strongest language available is the specific accomplishment that can be verified.

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