GLOBE 2012: West Coast leaders promise one million new 'clean energy' jobs in next decade

VANCOUVER -- Encouraged by the results of a five-month study, west coast leaders on Tuesday night vowed to create up to a million new jobs in the "clean economy" within the next 10 years.

Leaders from the Pacific Coast Collaborative (PCC) -- B.C. Premier Christy Clark, Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber and California Secretary of Natural Resource John Laird -- made the announcement at Vancouver's Fairmont Waterfront hotel as part of the opening reception for GLOBE 2012, a biennial international conference and trade fair on business and the environment.

“We have endorsed a vision that is an agenda for investment and accelerated job creation on the Pacific coast,” Clark told a crowd of hundreds.

The PCC commissioned GLOBE Advisors, a subsidiary of the Vancouver-based not-for-profit GLOBE Foundation, to prepare the report in efforts guide the 2012 West Coast Action Plan on jobs, according to a news release from the provincial government. Its objective was to identify the most promising markets for job creation, including energy-efficient buildings and advanced transportation.

The report, titled West Coast Clean Economy: Opportunities for Investment and Accelerated Job Creation, found "the $47 billion clean economy sector could triple in size by 2020, given the right policies and partnerships.”

By then, the “transition toward a cleaner economy could generate up to 1.03 million net new jobs, a [gross domestic product] contribution of up to US $143 billion and increased investments of between US $147-192 billion,” the report stated.

Read the full article from The Vancouver Sun: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/GLOBE+2012+West+coast+leaders+promise+million+clean+energy+jobs+next+decade/6297541/story.html#ixzz1p7CRVNc4