In the United States, green jobs promise to bring new subsidies to industry, research dollars to universities, competitiveness to the American economy, jobs for the unemployed, and solutions to environmental problems. Dramatic changes in energy, transportation, building design, and other industries are underway, spurred by policy innovations and investment at various government levels. State and local governments have entered into an increasingly intense competition to establish their region as the capitol of one or more clean tech industries. Meanwhile, civil society organizations have mobilized to support green jobs programs that promise to provide jobs for the unemployed and to revitalize distressed urban neighborhoods, and financial services firms have created a range of new products to serve investment in clean or green businesses.
This project offers two perspectives on the transition to a greener economy in the United States. First, from a practical policy perspective, the research project tracks and analyzes the progress of policy innovations in support of clean tech and green jobs at the state and local government levels in the United States and Canada. The project provides insight into policy innovations, hurdles, and best practices that are emerging. It also provides some insight into which cities have shown leadership in the transition from overall urban greening to green jobs development, and which states are showing leadership in the creation of industrial clusters for wind, solar, smart grid, biofuels, energy-efficient building technologies, fuel cells, and batteries. Finally, the project charts new financial products and investment strategies, both from governments and the private sector, that have emerged to support clean and green business development. The results will be of value to advocates and policymakers as they sort through priorities and strategies for a transition toward a greener economy, and the results will be made available publicly for their use.
Second, from a social science perspective, the project studies how different understandings of development are at work in the green economy transition. Specifically, the project develops a comparative analysis of the history of research and practice for mainstream economic development (leading up to the current focus on high-technology clusters, including clean-tech clusters); community development (from the antipoverty programs of the 1960s to current efforts to link green jobs to the needs of low-income communities); and localist development (from the debate over import substitution to the emergence of local food and local, independent business movements). Understanding the three approaches to development is important because there is evidence of the influence of all three in green jobs and clean tech policies. Likewise, the strands can also be identified in the design of new financial products associated with the green economy transition. In exploring the different approaches to development as they are becoming expressed in new policies and financial products, the project will draw on and suggest a way to integrate previously disconnected research fields of the sociology of finance, environmental sociology, and science and technology studies (STS). It will also contribute to broader theoretical conversations about sustainability and development.
