Chamber of Sustainable Commerce

Strengthening our economy without hurting workers, communities, or the environment.

CSC Events

Our Mission

While the sugar cane plantations of the last century have left Hawaiʻi, our modern economy still struggles to free itself from the unsustainable business model they left behind. Today, the racial divisions among settlers and the dispossession of Kānaka Maoli, the wealth and power gaps between landowners/corporations and workers, and the reckless dumping of poisons in our environment continues.

Too many chambers of commerce in Hawaiʻi have rewarded leadership that perpetuates these short-sighted, dysfunctional practices which have hurt our customers, our workers, our communities, and our long-term economic sustainability. 

Listed below are some specific policy issues that highlight the differences between the Chamber of Sustainable Commerce and the other Chambers of Commerce. If your values and success as a business owner are more closely aligned with those of our Chamber of Sustainable Commerce, please join our efforts to show Hawaiʻi’s leaders that we can strengthen our economy without hurting workers, communities, or the environment.

Policies We Support

Chamber of Sustainable Commerce

Supports raising the minimum wage so full-time workers do not live in poverty

Supports protecting O‘ahu’s pure water aquifer by shutting down Red Hill fuel tanks

Other Chambers of Commerce

Supports 100% renewable energy by 2035

Supports reducing petroleum-based waste
from our environment by banning
styrofoam and single-use plastics

Supports increasing taxes on empty homes

Supports fair share tax rates for corporations

Supports holding employers responsible for sexual harassment in the workplace

Supports wage disclosure by employers to ensure women are getting equal pay

Supports increased regulation, monitoring, and reporting of restricted-use pesticides

Supports fixing workers’ compensation laws to
help workers when they are injured on the job

Supports environmental safeguards like requirements for Environmental Assessments
and Environmental Impact Statements