United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) on Tuesday urged countries to develop further green economy as it is proved to be beneficial for human and environment.

Pavan Sukhdev, UNEP's Head of Green Economy Initiative, told a journalist workshop that the environment-friendly concept could be adopted in many areas such as transportation, infrastructure, recycling as well as food and agriculture.

"That's because green economy has objectives as engine of growth, creating decent employment and solution of poverty," said Sukhdev.

According to estimate by German consultant Roland Berger, the global market for environmental products and services currently runs at around US$1,370 billion and could double to US$2,740 billion in 2020.

The UNEP's data showed that renewable energy create new jobs.

"Globally, some 300,000 people are employed in wind power and at least 170,000 in solar one," said the data.

While in food and agriculture, sales of organic food globally have surpassed US$100 billion with great potential for green jobs growth.

(Xinhua News Agency February 23, 2010)