December 20, 2011
SPECIAL EDITION - ST.
LOUIS GREENPRINT 2012 LAUNCHED!
RCGA Presents Action Plan to Grow the Region's Green
Economy
Last Thursday, the RCGA released
"St. Louis Greenprint 2012" (click on above
graphic to download report), an action plan to help
grow our region's green economy, to more than 100 business and
civic leaders, many of whom had been directly involved in the
development of the Greenprint.
Tracy Hart (pictured below)
President of Tarlton Corporation and Energy and Environment Chair
for the RCGA Board of Directors, kicked off the
Greenprint launch by drawing attention to the success of the
RCGA's second annual St. Louis Green Business Challenge and
noting how expansion of the Challenge is one of the major
initiatives in the Greenprint. She said the action steps in the
Greenprint will serve to advance the RCGA's economic development
vision of our region being consistently ranked among the top ten
of the 20 largest U.S. metropolitan areas on indicators of
vitality, economic health and creation of community wealth.
|
|
| A capacity crowd gathered at the RCGA's
Regional Collaboration Center for the launch of the St. Louis
Greenprint 2012 on December 15th. |
Tracy Hart, Energy and
Environment Committee Chair for the RCGA, presents the launch of
"St. Louis Greenprint 2012" |
"Today we launch the first steps in an ongoing
process to develop the St. Louis region as a national and global
leader in sustainable companies, green products and services and
the clean energy workforce of the future," said RCGA
President and CEO Dick Fleming (pictured below). "This
2012 plan is intended to be just the beginning - we envision that
the Greenprint will be an evolving process that continues to
shape St. Louis' economic growth well into the future." He
described the St. Louis Greenprint 2012 as a major milestone in
the RCGA's St. Louis Climate Prosperity Project,
whose mission melds environmental sustainability with regional
economic development and competitiveness. The Greenprint follows
the St.
Louis Green Business Challenge, St. Louis Green Economy Profile and the St.
Louis Green Jobs Report, as previous initiatives
of the St. Louis Climate Prosperity Project.
 |
|
 |
RCGA President and CEO Dick Fleming calls
the St. Louis Greenprint 2012 a milestone in the RCGA's
implementation of the St. Louis Climate Prosperity
Project.
|
|
John Melville, President and Chief
Operating Officer of Collaborative Economics, Inc., facilitated
the development of the Greenprint in St. Louis as well as Silicon
Valley, Portland and Denver.
|
John Melville
(pictured
above), President
and Chief Operating Officer of Collaborative Economics,
Inc., a Silicon
Valley, CA consulting firm, discussed the St. Louis
Greenprint 2012 in the context of other Greenprints around the
country. His firm facilitated the Greenprint process in four
pilot regions: Denver, Silicon Valley, Portland, and now St.
Louis. John emphasized that the Greenprint is not only about the
environment but also about economic opportunity. He noted
that he was impressed by the St. Louis contributors and their
"focused pragmatism," as well as their ability to stay on track
in developing feasible action steps for 2012. John also talked
about how leaders in other parts of the country are often
surprised and impressed by the progress St. Louis has made
on these issues.
Throughout 2011, more
than 80 regional stakeholders
from a broad cross-section of
companies and institutions reached consensus on
long-term green economic development objectives, as well as
immediate initiatives and action steps.
 |
| Three working teams gathered throughout
2011 to reach consensus on Greenprint objectives, initiatives and
action steps. |
The St. Louis Greenprint 2012 identifies five key
initiatives, each with action steps aimed at meeting these
Greenprint objectives:
With the help of regional partners and champions,
the RCGA will work to address these objectives by implementing
the following initiatives and action steps throughout
2012:
Initiative I:
Developing the Region's Sustainable Technologies Cluster
Steve
Johnson (pictured below),
RCGA's Executive Vice President of Economic
Development, provided an overview of the Sustainable
Technologies Cluster in St. Louis. The RCGA's Economic
Development effort in this area is focused on leveraging the
region's existing competitive strengths, such as plant science,
agricultural technology, health science and services, and more
aspirational sectors, like advanced energy technologies. He also
discussed the importance of gathering industry leaders, into a
Leadership Council to determine the best direction for growing
the Cluster. Steve further addressed the need for the St. Louis
region to present a compelling story around the country and world
for companies that may be looking to locate new facilities, to
help international recruitment and attract more foreign direct
investment.
Initiative
II: Spreading Sustainable Business Practices
The expansion of the existing RCGA's
St. Louis Green Business Challenge is the Greenprint's second
initiative, said Eric Schneider, RCGA Senior Director -
Energy and Environment. He talked about the success of
the Green Business Challenge over the past two years,
involving 85 companies representing more than 100,000
employees. The Challenge has spurred companies to form green
teams, conserve energy and water, reduce waste, improve indoor
air quality and provide clean transportation options (see link to
case study book below). The Greenprint aims to expand the Green
Business Challenge to more companies and institutions across the
St. Louis region, and to encourage participants to source
their green products and services locally.
|
|
Steve Johnson, RCGA Executive Vice
President - Economic Development, explains the Sustainable
Technologies Cluster
|
Click above to read about the
accomplishments and innovations of the RCGA's St. Louis Green
Business Challenge Class of 2011
|
Initiative III: Accelerating the Market for Green
Products and Services
In 2012, the RCGA and the U.S. Green Building
Council - Missouri Gateway Chapter will launch a St.
Louis High Performance Building Initiative to grow
green product and service markets in St. Louis and foster a
business culture focused on creating innovative working
environments. To discuss the importance of green buildings,
Emily Andrews, Executive Director of the USGBC -
Missouri Gateway Chapter (pictured below) highlighted
that new LEED construction and the USGBC's LEED for Existing
Buildings programs can help create jobs in the region. She also
described how efficient buildings can reduce energy use and
create healthier workplaces. The long-term vision of the USGBC -
Missouri Gateway Chapter is to create and restore buildings and
communities that will regenerate and sustain the health and
vitality of all life, and she said her organization looks forward
to working with the RCGA on the St. Louis High Performance
Building Initiative.
Initiative
IV: Building a Green Innovation Network
The goal of this
initiative is to stimulate entrepreneurial activity and green
innovation in the St. Louis region. The action steps for this
initiative will identify and promote existing innovation business
challenges, showcase regional green innovation, build a support
network for entrepreneurs and start-ups and market the region's
innovation successes. Steve Poplawski (pictured
below), Chairman of the RCGA's Energy and Environment
Council and Partner at Bryan Cave, LLP, encouraged
the assembled audience to commit to help with the Greenprint
implementation. Poplawski underscored the importance of sticking
with the initiatives and action steps even if they may seem
daunting. He also provided inspirational words for the audience
to further action in green economic development.
Initiative
V: Establishing a Higher Education Sustainability Collaborative
This Greenprint
initiative will work to bring the existing Higher
Education Sustainability Consortium more closely
together with companies and labor organizations to establish a
Higher Education Sustainability Collaborative. Tim
Keane (pictured below), a founder of the Consortium and
Director of St. Louis University's Center for
Sustainability, discussed the importance of more
effectively linking the regional institutions that train and
educate the local workforce with green economy employers. Keane
stressed that by leveraging the strong assets of the region's 25
higher education institutions with area employers, opportunities
in our region's green economy will emerge.
|
 |
 |
Emily Andrews, Executive Director of the
U.S. Green Building Council - Missouri Gateway Chapter, discusses
the importance to High Performance Buildings to the
region.
|
Steve Poplawski, Partner at Bryan Cave
and Chair of the RCGA Energy and Environment Council inspires
RCGA members to get involved in implementing the
Greenprint.
|
Tim Keane, Director of the Center for
Sustainability at St. Louis University, describes why connecting
the curriculum at higher education institutions with the needs
area green employers is vital to our region's
growth.
|
The Greenprint also contains regional inventories of
existing St. Louis Green Business Assets and
Sustainable Community Initiatives (click on
graphics below to download inventories).
The Green Business Asset Inventory is a sampling of regional
companies that make up key green industry sectors. The companies
highlighted in the inventory have either based their business
models on supplying green products and services to the market or
have taken steps to green their business practices. The
Sustainable Community Initiatives inventory lists public-private
and multi-organizational partnerships oriented around green
economic development issues. The initiatives in the inventory
target the built environment, education and outreach and
community programs. Both inventories will be stored on the
RCGA website and updated throughout the year.
|
The
St. Louis Green Business
Asset Inventory
|
Sustainable
Community Initiatives |
|
 |
For more information on the St. Louis Greenprint
2012, visit www.stlrcga.org/greenprint.xml.
To get involved in Greenprint 2012 initiatives, contact Eric
Schneider, RCGA Senior Director-Energy and Environment, at
eschneider@stlrcga.org.
Note: All Photos by Bueltmann
Photography
|
