A business community that has taken a large, active role in the community’s efforts to encourage green activities.

Washington State is well known to the rest of the country for its progress in green activities and support of clean technologies. Thanks in large part to the advocacy of business organizations such as the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, Washington is home to roughly 400 clean tech companies that provide over 5,000 well-paying jobs. This concentration of green employment is 64 percent higher than the national average and is expected to grow to 25,000 jobs by 2020.

The Business Sustainability Committee of the Greater Seattle Chamber is one of the most active of the Chamber’s committees and strives to educate member businesses about the benefits of operating in more socially and environmentally responsible ways. The committee is “working to demonstrate the connection between sustainable business practices, long-term economic success and [the] region’s future as a world leader in economic vitality and quality of life.” In an unwavering effort to further advance the region’s green economy, the Greater Seattle Chamber is dedicating their next leadership conference, scheduled for late October 2009, to addressing green jobs and industry.

Entitled Energizing the Future: How our Region Can Expand our Clean Energy Sector to Fuel a Job Growing Economy, the Chamber’s 2009 Regional Leadership Conference will focus on how to harness the area’s strengths to become a world leader in renewable energy, alternative energy, energy efficiency, and smart grid technology. Sessions will address public and private sector opportunities; saving money through higher energy efficiency; how the Seattle region is uniquely positioned to receive significant federal investments; and vital leadership and collaborations needed for success. The efforts of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce are not simply a leap toward healthy environments, but—in the words of the Chamber—are designed for “jumpstarting an economic engine that can drive our prosperity and ensure our quality of life during this economic cycle and for decades to come.”