Designing policies for regenerative economies

Hawaiʻi is actively working to transition to a climate-resilient and regenerative economic model — integrating Native Hawaiian values and practices centred on care for land and sea with sustainability policies aimed at restoring the ecological health on which all life depends. One example of this work is the state's Climate Action Plan, developed in consultation with communities, local and state governments, researchers and other civil society organisations, which sets out pathways towards a more regenerative economy.

On 9 September 2026, Udi Mandel, who supports the development and implementation of these pathways as part of Hawaiʻi's Climate Commission, shared insights on the challenges and opportunities of this transition during a DEAL–WEALL policy peer-learning session. His reflections sparked a rich discussion among a small group of practitioners. Six key themes emerged.

1. How can Indigenous wisdom be woven into modern economic systems?

Udi introduced the concept of ahupuaʻa — the traditional Hawaiian land division running from mountain to sea, understood as a single interconnected water system requiring shared care. The challenge lies in reviving this holistic worldview within today's cultural and governance contexts, and within an economy still highly dependent on industrial supply chains and globalised markets. Looking beyond Hawaiʻi, China, Bhutan, Bolivia and Ecuador have embedded Indigenous or place-based wisdom into national constitutions or strategic visions, offering inspiration for how such thinking could shape economic policy at scale.

2. How can participatory processes become genuinely inclusive?

Hawaiʻi's climate action pathways were shaped through extensive public engagement: county-level consultations, community outreach, and public events that drew several thousand contributors commenting on early drafts. Designing, resourcing and running processes like this is not easy, and one recurring challenge is reaching the willing and the reluctant alike. Genuine participation means engaging not just motivated communities but also actors who are less inclined to take part — yet whose buy-in is essential. Comparisons were drawn with other US states, where government agencies often decline to engage with anything they see as falling outside their existing mandate, such as climate change or equity — a reminder of how much political context shapes who ends up at the table.

Hawaiʻi's experience suggests that broadening the frame and range of topics discussed can bring more people into the conversation. Tying climate action to circularity, wider economic systems can help connect it to what communities already cared about, making the process feel less like a single-issue mandate and more like a shared vision for the future. Such wider framing can also point to a more holistic approach, one that meets people through the everyday, lived realities of communities and local business. 

Building on shared community concerns can also help forge alliances across the political spectrum. In the US, for instance, opposition to data centres, which strain river systems, consume large amounts of energy, and undermine local resilience, is one issue that currently unites both Republicans and Democrats.

3. How can good-looking plans gain real political teeth?

A common challenge for efforts like Hawaiʻi's is turning carefully crafted plans and strategies, such as the Climate Action Plan, and well-organised bodies like the Hawaiʻi Climate Commission into real shifts in power and practice on the ground. This is especially difficult given that such plans are only advisory, and that powerful forces remain invested in preserving the status quo.

The hope is that both the plans themselves and the process of developing them can help build awareness and momentum for change: mapping credible pathways to carbon neutrality and more regenerative economies, raising public awareness, and using participatory drafting to build the public support that eventually makes action politically possible. Storytelling that reflects different communities' own relationships with land and water,  paired with practical examples from around the world where similar actions have already been put into practice, was seen as a powerful way to make these pathways resonate.

4. How can regenerative economies be financed at scale?

Participants shared examples of local revenue mechanisms that help bootstrap regenerative activity. In Colorado, landfill tipping fees generate funds for state-wide circular economy efforts; in popular tourist destinations like Hawaiʻi, a "green fee" on tourism channels hundreds of millions of dollars into regenerative activities each year. Grassroots initiatives play a role too: in Hawaiʻi, the One Economy movement is building community resilience through a local currency designed to keep money circulating within local businesses and neighbourhoods. Yet these sums are dwarfed by the scale of investment flowing into extractive and degenerative activity:  for example, the trillions of dollars now pouring into AI spurring the constructions of data centres while millions continue to be spent on climate misinformation.

Government action is needed to reshape where finance flows. Central banks and financial regulators, for instance, can encourage or mandate financial institutions to direct lending towards green sectors while restricting flows to ecologically destructive ones. Governments can also embed social-ecological considerations in public procurement and procure from social or collective owned enterprises. 

5. How can government agencies collaborate more effectively?

Even well-designed policies falter when responsibility is scattered across disconnected departments with limited resources. Many governments struggle with challenges, such as building a more regenerative and circular economy, that demand collaborative, holistic approaches but don't fit neatly within traditional departmental boundaries.

Colorado's state-wide circular-communities programme is one interesting example of how a dedicated, state-level programme can help coordinate action across local governments. Other models for encouraging cross-government collaboration include Wellbeing Economy budgeting in New Zealand and the Future Generations Commissioner role in Wales. Both are designed to help stretched agencies connect, work more holistically, and share limited resources more collaboratively.

6. How can local and sub-national leadership provide beacons of hope?

Even where national politics is unsupportive of climate action, local and state-level leadership can chart credible pathways forward, demonstrating what is possible and keeping the wider transition alive. Hawaiʻi's own experience, grounded in place-based wisdom and community-led planning, was discussed as one such beacon for other sub-national governments navigating similar headwinds.

To host future peer-learning sessions 

The session is part of policy peer-learning series designed to connect those curious about how Doughnut Economics can shape government policies and governance systems. They draw inspirations from and help enrich our Doughnut Economics for Policymakers' guide and Wellbeing Economy Policy Design Course.  

If you have a topic or question related to governments and policies that you wish to discuss with the broader DEAL and WEALL community, please get in touch via this google form. 

Thank you for your interests and participation!