Building public-private partnerships through trust, culture, and community

This post is written by Hannah Thompson, Sustainability Business Forum Coordinator, Hawai‘i Green Growth

• The challenge: Progress on the SDGs requires trust-based and effective public-private partnerships.
• Why it matters: The private sector is a key source of investment, leadership, and innovation for sustainable development.
• The solution: Hawai’i Green Growth, a public-private partnership that is recognised by the UN as a Local2030 Hub and centre of excellence for local sustainability solutions, connects leaders to build trust across sectors anchored in culture, community, and values.

As one of the most isolated populations on the planet, Hawai‘i faces unique challenges, from a dependence on food and energy imports and a high cost of living to biodiversity loss, sea-level rise, and increased climate change-related severe weather events. COVID-19 further underscores Hawai‘i's vulnerability to external disruption, affecting social and economic well-being and exposing systemic inequities.

As a result, Hawai‘i and other island economies at the frontlines of climate change are taking innovative and bold steps to build community resilience. Hawai‘i’s model offers unique insights to help the world navigate toward a more sustainable future.

Hawai‘i and other communities will struggle to deliver solutions to today’s socio-economic and environmental challenges without effective partnerships across sectors. Hawai‘i Green Growth (HGG) emerged as a trust-based network of public, private, and civil society partners that share ideas, solutions, and resources to drive collective action.

Here’s how public-private partnerships help shape and implement the SDG strategy in Hawai‘i.

Initiatives are most successful when one or two CEOs are committed to championing an issue and encourage other CEOs to take similar action.

Aligning action between public and private sectors

Hawai’i Green Growth (HGG) was launched at the 2011 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Honolulu as a coalition of diverse partners to catalyse public-private discussion and collective action on difficult sustainability issues. HGG identified green growth economic recovery priorities within an island context that builds on a legacy of local movements, and a history of indigenous knowledge and systems thinking.

HGG now convenes a network of over 150 members, individuals, and institutions that includes all four counties and mayors, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, civil society, and private sector partners committed to taking measurable steps toward building a green and resilient economy aligned with the global 2030 Agenda. Through more than 30 stakeholder meetings annually, policies and solutions are developed, coordinated, communicated, and implemented.

HGG’s members convene regularly across several working groups (Figure 1). These meetings generally operate in an informal ‘Chatham House Rule’ setting that enables a candid dialogue to explore solutions and achieve consensus in ways not possible in a formal setting. HGG develops a network-driven Strategic Plan every three years and convenes an annual statewide membership event to identify opportunities, challenges, and priorities for cross-sector collaboration.

Figure 1. The cross-sector working groups

(Image credit: Brookings Institution)

HGG’s non-affiliated, network-based approach has been remarkably successful in supporting short-term decision-making across Hawai‘i’s institutions to achieve long-term sustainability goals. Its consensus-building process ensures every perspective can be heard (Figure 2). In 2014, HGG members created the Aloha+ Challenge – the state’s roadmap and commitment to deliver on the SDGs – by identifying six local priority areas and developing community-based goals and measurable targets to be achieved by 2030.

In 2018, the United Nations recognised Hawai’i as a Local2030 Hub for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which HGG partners have led since 2011. In 2020, the partnership contributed to the first statewide Voluntary Local Review in the United States which benchmarked Hawai‘i’s progress on the Aloha+ Challenge.

Figure 2. Process to develop and build consensus among stakeholders on metrics and indicators

(Image credit: Brookings Institution)

Bringing executive-level buy-in from the private sector

At the 2015 Annual Members’ Meeting, the network called for increased private sector leadership in advancing Hawai‘i’s sustainability efforts. HGG responded by working with local business leaders committed to more effective community engagement to launch the Sustainability Business Forum (SBF) as a platform to support candid dialogue and concrete action. The SBF was founded by a group of 11 companies with aligned values that identified the mission and vision. The group has since grown to include 26 Hawai‘i businesses representing diverse industries from energy and infrastructure to banking and land asset management.

The SBF follows a ‘CEO plus-one’ format that includes CEO-designated representatives, which creates forward momentum on initiatives and conversations. The CEOs convene quarterly to engage peers in sharing best practices in integrating sustainability in their business operations and to discuss opportunities for collective action across four focus areas: 1) building community resilience, 2) transitioning to a net-zero economy, 3) advancing a green growth recovery, and 4) supporting sustainable and regenerative tourism.

Concrete action on stated CEO interests and goals is driven in the months between quarterly meetings by plus-one ‘Focus Groups’. Focus group recommendations are presented at the quarterly meetings for CEO-level input and approval and, following approval, the recommendations become SBF initiatives implemented by focus groups.

The diversity of companies can present a challenge in identifying collective priorities. Although all SBF members are encouraged to take collective action, support from all members is not required to move initiatives forward. Initiatives are most successful when one or two CEOs are committed to championing an issue and encourage other CEOs to take similar action. For example, the Kona Hema Carbon Offset Pilot was supported by an initial four companies that eventually grew to a coalition of 10 members.

SBF members engage the broader HGG network through other working groups to support cross-sector collaboration. For example, the SBF and the Policy and Legislative Working Group and its partners collaborated to identify common policies to support invasive species management that reduces economic risk, supports environmental stewardship, and builds resilience.

Progress moves at the pace of trust

Hawai‘i Green Growth supports cross-sector communication in Hawai‘i and builds trust between different stakeholders to drive progress on statewide sustainability goals. The network provides members with a safe place to share ideas and for collaborative problem solving that can result in members taking joint action on testimony submissions for bills or providing in-kind or financial resources for projects. Having aligned values and shared goals through the Aloha+ Challenge builds trust among the HGG Network members, which is necessary to advance Hawai‘i’s sustainability goals.

Accountability and transparency are key to building trust. Progress on Hawai‘i’s sustainability goals is tracked on the Aloha+ Dashboard, an Arc GIS and geospatial mapping platform with community-driven metrics to inform statewide and county-level decision-making. The Aloha+ Dashboard compiles data from the HGG Network and currently tracks 37 targets and over 200 indicators as well as features county-level resources for residents to measure household impact and drive behaviour change. The SBF tracks its contributions and commitment to the Aloha+ Challenge through its own set of localised Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) metrics.

How culture and traditional knowledge drive SDG action

Prior to European contact, Native Hawaiians managed resources holistically and efficiently, sustaining a population comparable to today through the ahupua‘a system – traditional divisions of land that provided a foundation for stewardship, governance, and sense of place. The Aloha+ Challenge He Nohona ‘Ae‘oia: A Culture of Sustainability is grounded in this legacy of systems thinking and indigenous wisdom through Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) host culture values and practice to mālama (care for and steward). In joining the HGG network, members commit to working together by valuing respect, collaboration, and action-oriented priorities; by honouring the process and outcome; and through cross-sector support for joint priorities.

Achieving the SDGs is dependent on local governments and communities identifying shared values and setting goals for a more resilient, prosperous, and sustainable future. Partnerships, communication, and trust are vital to achieving local and global sustainability goals. Hawai‘i’s culture of sustainability, inspired by Native Hawaiian knowledge and values, including mālama and _kuelana _(responsibility), provides the foundation for trust-based partnerships needed to drive action today and to encourage all communities to think and act like islanders on Island Earth.

Curated by the Brookings Institution and edited in collaboration with Apolitical.co, these how-to briefs authored by experienced local and city government leaders aim to disseminate their innovations to counterparts to accelerate the local delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals. This compendium is part of the SDG Leadership Cities project, a community of practice of vanguard cities promoting a global movement of city leadership on sustainable development.

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(Image Credit: Unsplash)