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The working group has finished work on a strategic document for green cluster development that it hopes will be adopted by the re-forming economic development agency.

The 66-page document (PDF), called the Greenprint, details methods to encourage business development in clean energy, clean technology, workforce development and sustainable forestry.

Recommended actions detailed in the Greenprint

1. Expand green project finance
2. Accelerate energy efficiency and clean energy
3. Commercialize green technologies
4. Cultivate the clean tech cluster
5. Cultivate a sustainable forestry and agriculture cluster
6. Develop a pipeline of green talent
7. Build support and communicate results

Ultimately, a decision about the Greenprint will go through the GGP’s new CEO. The agency is in the process of merging with the Portland-Vancouver Regional Partners Council; the first joint board meeting is scheduled for April 7.

The search for a CEO just started, and one probably won’t be selected for the next few months. But several members of the group were involved in the creation of the Greenprint and are interested in working with it, said Gillian Floren, interim CEO of GGP.

“The decision on whether to adopt it will really be in the purview of that new position,” Floren said. “But what’s been mapped out is likely to carry some weight.”

The agency will combine public and private efforts to address regional issues with jobs and business growth in Southwest Washington and Northwest Oregon.

The Greenprint dovetails into that, and streamlines several individual efforts into a more focused and efficient joint strategy for green sector development, said Erin Flynn, chairwoman of the Portland-Vancouver Regional Partners Council and urban development director for the Portland Development Commission.

“Because it’s regional in nature, we thought it best fit in the new regional organization,” Flynn said.

The green sector is a small part – about 1 percent – of the region’s overall economy, but it’s also growing fastest, she added.

According to the most recent available data, Oregon’s green sector added jobs seven times faster than all others – although that was in 2007, before the recession hit, Flynn said.

“We know Oregon has a larger green sector than any other state, and we have a larger share of our overall workforce in clean-tech jobs than any other state,” Flynn said. “I think this is the wave of the future and where we’ll be going more and more with the economy.”

The Greenprint focuses on seven actions to promote the region’s strengths in green and clean technology and energy sectors, said Liz Hopkins, program and operations manager with the Portland Sustainability Institute, which helped draft the document.

“We have a pretty good track record for clean energy and sustainability, but other regions across the country are also trying to develop those sectors and take hold of new businesses,” she said. “We’ve done a good job of getting solar manufacturing companies to come here, but if we don’t take actions now we might lose our competitive advantage in the future.”

If adopted, the plan would direct the new agency to look for ways to help finance green projects and smart growth through regional investment strategies and incentives. Part of that would be to work with the Oregon Investment Council to invest some state treasury money in local clean technology efforts, Hopkins said.

“We also need to focus on our workforce development, making sure people are trained for new green-sector jobs as they come along,” Hopkins said.

Portland State University and the Oregon Institute of Technology would likely both play a role in that effort, and both are involved with the plan, she added.

Other details of the Greenprint include creation of a central online resource point for businesses looking to commercialize green products and creation of a consortium of companies that could work together on larger environmental projects.

The group would also try to find ways to bring together members of each clean-tech cluster – with a focus on wind energy, solar energy, green development, transportation and smart grids.

“This was put together by a very broad group, including the Portland Development Commission, Metro, Nike, the Oregon Business Council and several others,” Hopkins said. “I think we talked to more than 150 organizations and businesses based in clean-energy space.”

For the plan to move forward, GCC, if it were to adopt the Greenprint, would need to recruit some of the state’s larger technology companies, Flynn added.

Some preliminary talks have already begun with SolarWorld, Vestas, Iberdrola and Intel, she said.