Last week, leaders from Washington, Oregon, California and British Columbia met at the GLOBE Conference on Business and the Environment, emerging with a plan to grow the clean economy on the West Coast.

An economic analysis of the clean economy was conducted in order to create the 2012 West Coast Action Plan on Jobs. It looked at some of the most “promising” markets for job creation, inlacing energy-efficient buildings and advanced transportation. The new report is said to have “found that the $47 billion clean economy sector could triple in size by 2020, given the right policies and partnerships.”

“B.C. is proud to host this year’s leader forum,” said British Columbia Premier Christy Clark. “The Pacific Coast Collaborative is a unique and innovative vehicle for West Coast leaders to identify collaborative strategies in a face-to-face setting. Today’s meeting is the culmination of months of work within our four jurisdictions on an action plan to create jobs and strengthen the economy of our shared mega-region.”

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire says the “clean” economy is proving to be a fruitful one, and this new plan just hopes to speed the process up.

“We have proof that our actions are already working,” Gregoire said. “Now we want to go even faster – and create up to one million jobs in the next decade through the 2012 Action Plan on Jobs. Through collaboration and low-carbon innovation, we have developed a win-win competitive strategy that will continue to work well for all of our jurisdictions.”

According to Gregoire’s office, the 2012 West Coast Action Plan on Jobs “outlines a series of measurable commitments by each jurisdiction for retrofitting state-owned buildings, fleet purchasing of advanced technology vehicles, and creating world-class energy standards to incentivize private sector leadership and advanced manufacturing.”

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber and California Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. are both all-in on this plan.

“We have come together here in Vancouver to reject the myth that jobs and the environment are in conflict,” Kitzhaber said. “More than 500,000 Pacific Coast residents are cashing clean economy paychecks right now. And job creation rates in the clean economy are well above those for other shrinking sectors of the economy, pay better, and have been more resilient to the recent economic downturn.”

In California, the “clean” economy is already well under way, according to Brown.

“California already gets 20 percent of our energy from renewables, and by 2020 we’ll achieve 33 percent or more,” Brown said. “Our policies are building new markets and spurring creativity globally. By working collaboratively with our Pacific Coast neighbors, we can set the terms for long-term job growth and economic strength.”

Along with this commitment to “clean economy” job creation, Gregoire’s office notes that Washington, Oregon, California and British Columbia all agreed to a uniform plan to handle and dispose of the Japanese tsunami debris, which is expected to begin hitting the West coast of North America next year. The hope is to be efficient in dealing with the issue, and also to make sure there isn’t much in the way of redundancy between the four jurisdictions in combating the flood of wreckage that’s expected to begin making an appearance in 2013.

To learn more, visit www.pacificcoastcollaborative.org.