News and Recent Activities
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Upcoming Good Jobs, Green Jobs 2012 Regional Conference in Atlanta. High Road Strategies’ Joel Yudken is scheduled to participate on a panel on state clean energy manufacturing policies, in the Good Jobs Green Jobs regional conference in Atlanta, Georgia, to be held February 23-24. The February 23 morning workshop, "The BlueGreen Apollo Green Manufacturing Action Plan: Policy Recommendations for States," will provide an overview of policy recommendations for promoting clean energy manufacturing in three states—Ohio, Michigan and California—developed by the Apollo Project of the BlueGreen Alliance, drawing on research and the input of three state-level task forces of labor, environmental, and business leaders. Other panelists will include Jeffrey Rickert, Deputy Director of the AFL-CIO Working for America Institute, Mac Lynch, Senior Manager of State & Local Affiliates, BlueGreen Alliance, and Silvia Minton, Sr. Vice President, Corporate, Institutional & Government Affairs, MAGE SOLAR Projects, Inc.. Chris Busch, Policy Director, BlueGreen Alliance, will moderate. Yudken conducted research and developed an initial set of recommendations that served as the intellectual foundation for the GreenMAP policy recommendations for Michigan and California (click here for more information).
The Atlanta conference is the first of four Good Jobs, Green Jobs regional conferences to be held in 2012, organized by the BlueGreen Alliance. The others will be held in Los Angeles (March 25-26), Philadelphia (April 3-4), and Detroit (May 10-11). High Road Strategies will also serve as a Convener for the Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Detroit conferences. For more information about the conferences go to: http://www.greenjobsconference.org/.
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Energy and Manufacturing Projects in Ohio Come to Successful Close. From April 2010 to December 2011, High Road Strategies participated in two related projects on energy and Ohio’s economy, with a special focus on manufacturing, which recently came to a successful end.
In the first project, Ohio University and The Ohio State University were awarded $500,000 through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act State Energy Program to evaluate federal climate policies and their potential impact on Ohio’s economy, including the development an energy-economic modeling tool to carry out these assessments. The contract was administered by the Ohio Department of Development, jointly with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. As part of the team headed by the two Ohio universities, which also included the Millennium Institute and Thompson Hine LLP, both of Washington, DC, High Road Strategies produced a report, Risks and Opportunities for Ohio’s Manufacturing Sector in a Carbon-Constrained World, which was incorporated into a final, overall project report, Assuring Ohio’s Competitiveness in a Carbon-Constrained World, now available online (click here for more information). -
In a follow-up project, the Ohio University Voinovich School for Leadership and Public Affairs contracted with the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (OMA) to conduct an Advanced Energy Manufacturing Policy Study, to explore and evaluate options for Ohio manufacturers to take advantage of new and emerging opportunities in advanced energy manufacturing. This included working with OMA to articulate an Energy Statement of Principles; conduct in-depth interviews with manufacturing executives concerning their energy use and views; develop an energy policy framework; create an industrial energy-efficiency "roadmap" to help guide Ohio manufacturers identify and achieve potential cost-effective IEE gains; and a related document to help manufacturers identify the best financial and technical assistance opportunities to make energy savings. High Road Strategies participated in most phases of this work, but its main contribution was in the production of the IEE roadmap. In a separate report, it proposed new analytical and technical assistance tools to help manufacturers evaluate and respond to energy policy options (for more information click here).
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Roll-Out of Green Production Skill Standards. On October 18, 2011, in Dayton, Ohio, the Manufacturing Skills Standards Council (MSSC)—in collaboration with the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers–Communications Workers of America (IUE-CWA), and the Working for America Institute, AFL-CIO—launched a new credentialing module—a "Green Production Module" (GPM)—dedicated to helping train and assess the nation's front-line manufacturing workforce against industry-defined national standards related to "green production." The project was funded by a grant from the Department of Labor’s Employment Training Administration. Under GPM, workers and students will be able to secure an industry-recognized, nationally portable MSSC "Green Production" Certificate. GPM was designed to include all manufacturers, not just companies producing "green" goods such as wind turbines and solar panels. For this reason, MSSC defines "green production" as workplace activities across all manufacturing sectors that "require the use of equipment, technologies and processes that will improve the environmental performance of manufacturing companies." In the Fall 2010, High Road Strategies joined the team led by MSSC to develop the new GPM standards and training curriculum. High Road Strategies Principal Dr. Joel Yudken provided consultation, research, and technical assistance in support of this effort. He also participated in the GPM launch event in Dayton, as a speaker on the "Role of GPM In a National Strategy for Greening America’s Industrial Base" panel (click here for more information).
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High Road Strategies Goes to Malaysia. On September 19, 2011, High Road Strategies participated in a "Comprehensive National Development Planning Workshop Using Threshold 21 (T21) Model" in Putrajaya, Malaysia, at the invitation of the Washington, DC-based Millennium Institute (MI). Dr. Andrea M. Bassi, then MI’s Director for Project Development and Modeling, has been leading a project to apply MI’s Threshold 21 (T 21) energy-economic model to the economy of Malaysia, working with the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of Malaysia’s Prime Minister’s Department. The workshop, also sponsored by the EPU, examined energy and trade issues confronting Malaysia in its efforts to implement its Tenth Malaysia Plan. High Road Strategies’ Joel Yudken prepared a report and made a presentation on Energy Pricing and Manufacturing Competitiveness in Malaysia. Greg McGuire, an Independent Economic Specialist originally from Australia, now living in Indonesia, spoke on Free Trade Agreements and their implications for Malaysia. After the formal presentation, Dr. Yudken met with EPU staff and officials for a more in-depth discussion of the issues covered in his paper. (click here for more information). -
BlueGreen Alliance Clean Energy Manufacturing Project Nears Completion. In March 2011, the Apollo Alliance Project of the BlueGreen Alliance commissioned High Road Strategies to research and develop policy recommendations for promoting clean energy manufacturing in Michigan and California. 
High Road Strategies Principal Dr. Joel Yudken first conducted a comprehensive assessment of the federal policy landscape as it relates to clean energy manufacturing (CEM). This was followed by research and policy reports summarizing the trends, status, and policies supporting clean CEM growth in Michigan and California. The Michigan Green Manufacturing Action Plan: Next Steps in a Clean Energy Manufacturing Policy, a report released by the Michigan BlueGreen Apollo Alliance in October 2011, built upon an initial set of policy recommendations that had been developed by Dr. Yudken, drawing upon the CEM research report. A similar policy report, based on initial recommendations developed by Dr. Yudken, and under review by the California Green Manufacturing Action Project (GreenMAP) Task Force and BlueGreen Apollo Alliance Project staff, is expected to be completed and made publically available in the near future (click here for more information). -
Bloomberg Businessweek and Other Coverage of Defense Industrial Base Report. Following a successful presentation and webinar by High Road Strategies’ Joel Yudken on April 14, 2011, the report, Manufacturing Insecurity: America’s Manufacturing Crisis and the Erosion of the U.S. Defense Industrial Base, featured in the event, was cited in a Bloomsberg Businessweek article (May 5, 2011) on the declining availability of U.S.-made products for fulfilling defense needs. The presentation was conducted before a standing-room only audience of 70-80 business, labor, and government representatives—another 30 participated online—on April 14, 2011, held in the President’s Room of the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C. Dr. Jerry Abbot, current faculty member and
former director of the Industry Studies Program, Industrial College of the Armed Forces, National Defense University, and Owen Herrnstadt, director, International Department, International Association of Machinists, also appeared on the panel. The AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council (initially in conjunction with the U.S. Business-Industry Council) commissioned the report, and sponsored the event, along with the Coalition for a Prosperous America, the AFL-CIO Metal Trades Department and the Alliance for American Manufacturing. The High Road Strategies report received other important public attention as well. For example, it was extensively mentioned in—and submitted along with—testimony by United Steel Workers Union president Leo W. Gerard before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on May 11, 2011, and was quoted in the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation report, The Case for a National Manufacturing Strategy (April 2011). In addition, Dr. Yudken presented the findings of the study at a meeting of the National Materials and Manufacturing Board of the National Academies (on which he had served in the last decade), on May 19, 2011, and discussed the report in a meeting with key staff of the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress. For more information about the research study and report click here.
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Apollo Alliance Clean Energy Manufacturing Project.
High Road Strategies has joined a project of the Apollo Alliance, headquartered in San Francisco, CA, in March 2011, to investigate priority policies that the states of Michigan and California could implement to advance the manufacturing of clean energy technologies. High Road Strategies principal Dr. Joel Yudken will first conduct an assessment of the current federal policy landscape as it relates to clean energy manufacturing, including a review of policies that apply to manufacturing in general. He then will develop a report for each state, summarizing the trends, current status, and prospects for clean energy manufacturing job growth. A second report will present a set of policy recommendations for each state, identifying policy changes that would do the most to advance in-state manufacturing job expansion and job creation. Check back on this website for updates and further information about this exciting new project.
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IEDC Federal Forum Sustainability Panel.
On March 21, 2011 High Road Strategies’ Joel Yudken moderated a panel on “Sustainability for a Green Future,” at the International Economic Development Council’s 2011 Federal Economic Development Forum, held at The Westin Alexandria, in Alexandria, VA, March 20-22, 2011. Other panelists included Joan Fitzgerald, director and professor, Graduate Program in Law, Policy and Society, Northeastern University, Andre N. Pettigrew, Executive Director, Climate Prosperity, Inc. Washington, DC, and LeAnn M. Oliver, Program Manager, Offices of Weatherization and Intergovernmental Programs, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of Energy, Washington, DC. Approximately 40-50 people attended the panel discussion. For more information click here.
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Appearance on INTERNATIONAL INVESTOR.
On November 30, 2010 High Road Strategies principal Joel Yudken was a featured speaker on INTERNATIONAL INVESTOR, which broadcasts weekly on 62 television stations across the United States, from California, to New York, to Florida to Washington, and globally on a 24-hour/7 day a week basis on the www.BLINKX.com Business News Network on the Web (the video is available at blinkx.com/videos/channel:InternationalInvestor). The show, produced by INTERNATIONAL INVESTOR president, Robert Sherretta, entitled A Skeptics View of Global Trade and Its Imbalances, also featured William Reinsch, President, National Foreign Trade Council, and Bruce Reynolds, Professor of Economics, George Washington University. For more information, see www.international-investor.com.
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High Road Strategies Joins Green Skill Standards Team.
In the Fall 2010, High Road Strategies joined a team led by the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC)—in collaboration with the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers–Communications Workers of America (IUE-CWA), and the Working for America Institute, AFL-CIO—to develop a Green Production Module for the national MSSC-Certified Production Technician standards, training, assessment, and certification program. HRS principal Joel Yudken is providing consultation, research, and technical assistance in support of this effort. The project is funded by a grant from the Department of Labor’s Employment Training Administration. For more information, click here.
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High Road Strategies Report in Congressional Testimony.
High Road Strategies report examining the impact of the eroding American civilian manufacturing base on the nation’s defense industrial base was referenced in testimony, and entered into the Congressional Record, by AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council Executive Director Robert Baugh before the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, on September 22, 2010. This report, Manufacturing Insecurity, America’s Manufacturing Crisis and the Erosion of the U.S. Defense Industrial Base, also distributed at and HRS principal Joel Yudken participated in presentations to the Manufacturing Division of the National Industry Association on October 28, 2010 and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces on February 10, 2011. For more information, click here.
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Third Climate Policy and Manufacturing Report Released.
A new report produced by High Road Strategies and the Millennium Institute was released in September 2010 that examined the impact of climate policy on energy-intensive trade-exposed (EITE) manufacturing industries. This is the last of a “trilogy” of such studies that included the report on Climate Policy and Energy-Intensive Manufacturing: Impacts and Options, sponsored by the National Commission on Energy Policy, released June 2009, and Climate Change and Energy-Intensive Manufacturing: The Competitiveness Impacts of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, sponsored by the Environmental Defense Fund, released February 2010. The latest report, Climate Change and Energy-Intensive Manufacturing: Alternative Policies and Effectiveness of Cost Mitigation Provisions in the American Energy and Security Act of 2009, was sponsored by the National Commission on Energy Policy and the AFL-CIO Working for America Institute. Building on the research and models in the earlier studies, the new report examined alternative policy scenarios, based on different assumptions regarding alternative, non-carbon electric power costs and the availability of international offsets, and evaluated various options, based on the border adjustment mechanism (International Reserve Allowance Program) stipulated in the legislation. It should be noted that the System Dynamics Society has selected the three joint HRS-MI studies on climate policy and manufacturing as among the best recent system dynamics applications. For more information, click here.
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Appearances in California and Washington DC Conferences.
In a major conference on green jobs and economic development, held in San Diego, CA, June 2-3, 2010, High Road Strategies principal Joel Yudken served on a plenary panel on “Building a (Green) Regional Jobs Strategy,” with other national experts on this topic. The Building Workforce Partnerships 2010 Conference, “Building the Jobs Recovery,” was organized and sponsored by the Workforce and Economic Development Program (WED) of the California Labor Federation. The plenary panel was Moderated by Jerry Butkiewicz, workforce readiness manager at Sempra Utilities,
the plenary panel also included Kate Gordon, vice president for energy policy, Center for American Progress, Joan Fitzgerald, director and professor, Graduate Program in Law, Policy and Society, Northeastern University, and Amy Hanauer, executive director, Policy Matters Ohio. Earlier in the spring, Dr. Yudken also appeared on the “What is Cap & Trade Session,” of the International Economic Development Council’s 2010 Federal Economic Development Forum, held in April 18-20, in Alexandria, VA. -
High Road Strategies Joins Ohio Climate Project.
In April 2010, Ohio University and Ohio State University were awarded $500,000 through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act State Energy Program to develop a climate change plan and impact analysis to prepare Ohio communities and businesses for federal climate change policies. The contract will be administered by the Ohio Department of Development, jointly with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. High Road Strategies is part of the team headed by the two Ohio universities, which also includes the Millennium Institute, of Arlington, VA and Thompson Hine LLP, of Washington, DC. It will participate in evaluating federal climate policies and their potential impact on the state, which includes assisting in the development of an energy-economic modeling tool, with special attention to the implications for Ohio’s energy-intensive manufacturing sector. For more information, click here.
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Climate and Trade Conference in New Delhi, India.
High Road Strategies principal Joel Yudken was a featured speaker at a recent international conference organized by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), of New Delhi, India. Held at the Habitat Centre in New Delhi on March 30-31, 2010, the event, Trade and Climate Change in Emerging Economies: The Competitiveness, Technology, and Intellectual Property Rights Dimension, was billed as an informal dialogue to explore issues at the interface of trade and climate change that are of concern and interest to the emerging economies. It’s purpose was to engage key players in a non-negotiating setting to explore a positive agenda for developing countries in the process of climate change negotiations in light of developments at Copenhagen. Dr. Yudken’s presentation included a review of the current state-of-play in the U.S. political debate over climate policy, and an assessment of the competitiveness impacts of climate policies on energy-intensive industries (building on recent work on this topic), with special attention to climate-related border adjustment measures. Although mostly an Indian audience, the conference also included speakers from China, Brazil, Ghana, and the European Union.
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New High Road Strategies-Millennium Institute Report.
A new report sponsored by the Environmental Defense Fund, produced by High Road Strategies in partnership with the Millennium Institute, was released on February 26, 2010. The report, Climate Change and Energy-Intensive Manufacturing: The Competitiveness Impacts of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES), summaries a study that evaluating the potential impacts of greenhouse gas emissions allowance costs on energy-intensive trade-exposed manufacturing industries under the core provisions of ACES (the Waxman-Markey bill, H.R. 2454). In particular, it assessed the effectiveness of the output-based allowance rebate measure in ACES to mitigate these impacts. The study built upon, expanded, and employed the climate-industry models initially developed for its earlier NCEP-sponsored study on climate policy and energy-intensive manufacturing. The EDF has since met with many Senate offices to share the report, with hope of influencing climate legislation currently being developed and debated in the U.S. Senate. High Road Strategies also recently included findings of the report in presentations to an international conference in New Delhi, India (see above), a federal policy forum of the International Economic Development Council in Washington, DC, and the Office of Competition and Economic Analysis.
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High Road Featured in Ohio Manufacturers Workshop.
High Road Strategies began the New Year participating in a conference sponsored by Ohio University’s Voinovich School and the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (OMA). On January 13, 2010, the Voinovich School and OMA held the second in a series of workshops: “The New Energy Climate for Ohio Manufacturers II,” at the Quest Business and Conference Center in Columbus Ohio. High Road Strategies’ principal Joel Yudken spoke
at the event on the topic “Climate policy, energy-intensive industries & U.S. competitiveness.” With the help of funding provided by the Ohio EPA’s Environmental Education Fund, the workshop sought to “provide information on current state and national energy and climate policy and share tools and examples of ways Ohio manufacturers can prepare, adapt and succeed,” according to an event flyer. Over 50 energy and business leaders from around the state attended the first workshop in June 2009, and about as many came to the one in January. For more information click here. -
High Road’s Yudken Joins CPA Advisory Board.
In October 2009, High Road Strategies’ Joel Yudken was invited to join the Advisory Board of the Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA), a coalition of manufacturing, agricultural, labor, consumer and citizen interests working together to promote a new and positive U.S. trade policy that provides prosperity and security to America, its citizens,
farms, factories and working people. CPA is committed to an America that can provide good jobs for workers, affordable goods for consumers, opportunity for farms and manufacturers and a clean environment without compromising our national security. Other advisory board members include Pat Choate, political economist and author, Dr. Ralph Gomory, President Emeritus of the Sloan Foundation, the Hon. Patrick A. Mulloy, Commissioner on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, and William T. Waren, Policy Director of the Forum on Democracy and Trade and adjunct professor at the Harrison Institute of Public Law, Georgetown University Law Center. -
High Road Strategies Articles Published.
In 2009, articles coauthored by High Road Strategies principal Joel Yudken appeared in three important publications. The most recent one, entitled “Climate Change and U.S. Competitiveness” (with Millennium Institute’s Andrea Bassi) was published in the Fall 2009 issue of Issues in Science and Technology, the policy magazine of the National Academies. A second, “Potential Challenges Faced by the U.S. Chemicals Industry Under a Carbon Policy,” (with Andrea Bassi) was printed in a special issue on Energy Policy and Sustainability in the journal, Sustainability, and a third article, “Climate policy impacts on the competitiveness of energy-intensive manufacturing sectors” (with Andrea Bassi and Matthias Ruth) appeared in Energy Policy. All three directly drew upon results of the study carried out in the National Commission on Energy Policy-sponsored project Climate Policy and Energy-Intensive Manufacturing: Impacts and Options.
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Climate Policy-Manufacturing Report Roll-Out.
On June 24, 2009, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and the National Commission on Energy Policy co-hosted an event in the Senate Russell Office Building, in Washington, DC, marking the release of a groundbreaking report, entitled Climate Policy and Energy-Intensive Manufacturing:
Impacts and Options. Funded by the Energy Commission (a project of the Bipartisan Policy Center), the study was conducted by High Road Strategies (HRS), in collaboration with the Millennium Institute (MI). It examined the climate change policy responses available to Congress and the Administration to address competiveness concerns of U.S. heavy manufacturing industries, labor unions and others. High Road Strategies Principal Joel Yudken presented an overview of report and a summary of its findings, before a standing-room only crowd of representatives from industrial, labor, environmental, and governmental organizations, including a number of Senate staff members. The event also featured leading industry, labor and environmental experts who discussed the report and other key competitiveness issues.Over the course of the study, the HRS-MI team gave presentations involving a variety of industry and labor groups, as an integral part of the research process, including the American Iron and Steel Institute, the Aluminum Association, American Forest and Paper Association, American Chemistry Council, and the United Steel Workers International Union, among others. Since the roll-out, presentations have been given to representatives of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. International Trade Commission, German Marshall Fund, American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and the Coalition for a Prosperous America. It also has presented in a number of conferences (see below).
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High Road Strategies Participates in Pew Charitable Trusts Green Economy Project.
In 2008-2009, High Road Strategies principal Joel Yudken served on the advisory board of the Pew Charitable Trusts Green Economy Scorecard project. The goal of the project was to count the number of actual jobs, companies and investments in every state and the District of Columbia aimed at developing clean, renewable sources of energy, increasing energy efficiency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, and conserving water and other natural resources. The study concluded that jobs and businesses in the emerging clean energy economy have grown at a faster rate than U.S. jobs overall, and are poised for even greater growth, driven by increasing consumer demand, venture capital infusions by investors eager to capitalize on new market opportunities, and policy reforms by federal and state lawmakers seeking to spur America’s fiscal recovery, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and protect the environment. The results of the study were presented in a report, Clean Energy Economy, Repowering Jobs, Businesses and Investments Across America (June 2009). Collaborative Economics in Mountain View, CA headed up the effort under contract from the Pew Center on the States and Pew Environment Group of the Pew Charitable Trusts. Other advisory board members included Marilyn Brown, Professor, School of Public Policy Georgia Institute of Technology, Joe Cortright, Vice President and Principal, Impresa, Jeff Finkle, President/CEO International Economic Development Council, Doug Cameron, Managing Director and Chief Science Advisor, Piper Jaffray, and Tim Woodward, Managing Director, Nth Power.