United Nations Radio

Moving towards an economy that is less harmful to the environment could create millions of new employment opportunities, or "green jobs" according to a new study commissioned by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

UNEP's Executive Director Achim Steiner says the global market for environmental products and services is projected to double by the year 2020:

"In the way that our economies have evolved over the 20th century, much of our industrial production, also agricultural production produces enormous amounts of waste. That waste is no longer something that we can afford to treat as waste. Indeed, we have to begin to turn that waste into a resource."

Mr. Steiner says initiatives, such as recycling rubber tires are already coming from entrepreneurs, despite policy frameworks that do not encourage such innovations. The report, he says, seeks to show policy makers that with the right incentives there is massive potential for new economic sectors to emerge.

Reporting for UN Radio, I'm Bissera Kostova.

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