California leads the nation in clean tech for the fifth consecutive year, with Massachusetts and Oregon repeating their no. 2 and no. 3 rankings from last year, according to the 2014 US Clean Tech Leadership Index, published today.
Clean Edge, a clean-tech research firm, publishes the annual index, which tracks the clean-tech activities of all 50 states and the 50 largest metro areas in the US, from EV and renewables adoption to patent and investment activity.
Vermont and Connecticut moved into the Top 10 in the 2014 State Index this year, while Hawaii and Minnesota dropped out. In the Metro Index, San Francisco and San Jose repeated as no. 1 and no. 2, while San Diego jumped four places to no. 3, giving California the nation’s top three metros and five of the top seven.
Eight of the top 10 metro areas are located in the top four states; the exceptions are Washington DC and Austin.
The index also shows registrations of all-electric vehicles more than doubled between the 2013 and 2014 indexes, to nearly 220,000 nationwide.
Clean Edge founder and managing director Ron Pernick says this year’s report shows how some regions are “taking climate action seriously.” He cites double-digit clean-energy adoption rates, policies such as California’s energy storage mandate and New York’s green bank.