How CEOs Drive Inclusive Regional Growth And A Clean Energy Future

At the MIT Business for Inclusive Local Thriving (BILT) Lab, we study how business coalitions use their leadership strengths—visioning, sensemaking and convening—to drive inclusive regional economic development and a clean energy future. The starting point is a clear North Star vision that includes energy—an opportunity sector that is growing faster than the broader U.S. workforce and contributing on par with artificial intelligence to American GDP.

The P33 Chicago business coalition is championing a big-bets regional strategy of quantum technologies, semiconductors, and biomanufacturing, enabled by decarbonized technology and infrastructure. In Minnesota, Greater MSP is leading a vision of advanced manufacturing, food science, biomanufacturing and medtech, supported by industrial decarbonization and a new sustainable aviation fuel hub. Both regions have secured billions of once-in-a-generation federal funding to fuel their development strategies.

Rhode Island Talent Demand Signaling and the Clean Energy Economy

Rhode Island offers an example of how the visioning-sensemaking-convening framework works. The Partnership for Rhode Island, comprised of the state’s largest employers, helped shape the Grow Blue strategy, which capitalizes on the state’s unique marine, energy and defense assets. Rhode Island aims to become the first state powered entirely by renewable energy.

To advance this vision, the Partnership engaged the Boston Consulting Group to understand the state’s workforce needs and create a playbook to forecast talent demand. The Partnership then helped convene state government, labor unions and workforce intermediaries to build an Employer Signaling System. Modeled after the successful system developed by the Greater Washington Partnership, this system dynamically assesses and forecasts workforce needs, removing uncertainty in workforce development and helping to identify high-potential communities within the rapidly growing blue and green economy that are ripe for investment.

Houston’s Path to a Low-Carbon Future

In Houston, a significant energy hub, the nonprofit Center for Houston’s Future and the University of Houston paved the way with a 2021 report envisioning pathways to a low-carbon and energy abundant future. Then, the Center, in collaboration with the business-led Greater Houston Partnership and McKinsey & Company, convened over 100 stakeholders to develop a clean hydrogen market analysis and roadmap to create 180,000 jobs statewide, add $100 billion to GDP growth, and abate 220 million tons (MT) of carbon emissions worldwide by 2050.

The Center now leads a 40-company hydrogen steering committee that is growing Houston’s clean hydrogen ecosystem via expanded international trade, supply chain development, and a statewide transportation network. In 2023, the Department of Energy selected the industry-led Gulf Coast HyVelocity Hub for support of up to $1.2 billion in federal funding.

Revitalizing Appalachia’s Economy

In Appalachia, a region grappling with the decline of coal mining and steel industries, American Electric Power (AEP) is spearheading an economic revitalization strategy called Appalachian Sky. Co-created with local partners, this strategy envisions an “all-of-the-above” energy platform that lowers AEP’s carbon footprint while growing the region’s aviation and aerospace industries.

Appalachian Sky employs three approaches: certifying regions as “aero-ready” to meet aerospace industry needs; passing legislation to create “business-ready sites” with pre-built energy infrastructure; and retraining skilled metal fabrication workers.

The strategy is yielding results. Multiple airports in the region have received the AeroReady certification, and in 2024, West Virginia attracted a $3 billion investment from Nucor Steel for a new facility, which will create 800 full-time jobs. Partnerships with Marshall University and New River Technical College are also helping to develop a new workforce of pilots and aerospace mechanics.

Proactive Business Leadership for Regional Growth

Business leaders across the country are driving regional economic growth that aligns with their business and talent goals, boosts local economies, creates good jobs, and advances a sustainable energy future.

The leadership playbook of visioning, sensemaking, and convening can help regions attract major funding by aligning business priorities with community needs to meet federal grant requirements set by agencies like the Department of Energy (DOE). These include job creation, job quality, equitable access to opportunities, and meaningful engagement with communities and labor stakeholders.

As regions look to the future, key areas of focus include scaling supply chains, expanding workforce development, and fostering deeper two-way engagement with communities. Laura Goldberg, Senior Vice President at the Center for Houston’s Future, stresses that moving forward will require “early action and scaling by agile learning,” rather than waiting for perfect solutions before implementation.