pollution is relatively small, whereas green jobs could provide employment for 15 to 60 million people around the world, taking into account losses within higher carbon businesses that fail to adapt.

Among the opportunities championed in the report to achieve this uptick is a greater commitment to renewable energy, which in addition to combating climate change would open up new energy markets in the form of underdeveloped regions currently off the grid. Cleaner forms of transportation would help to correct the trade imbalance suffered by countries that rely on imported fuels. The upgrading of buildings to be more efficient could provide an immediate boost to construction jobs in cities. And then there’s agriculture, the livelihood of one billion people around the world. Farmers must respond to the effects of climate change, say experts, and achieve the 70% yield increase by 2050 viewed as necessary for feeding a growing world population. All told, at least half of the world’s work force could adopt more sustainable techniques, the study found.

Dr. Poschen says he and his colleagues have spent years dispelling what is in their view the myth that protecting the environment requires giving up a living wage. They counter such an assumption with the argument that overstretching the Earth’s carrying capacity is a more meaningful threat to jobs, as it undermines the basis for our very existence. And yet, most notably in the U.S, the heated debate over the relationship between jobs and the environment persists. In the middle of a presidential campaign, there are few indications that a resolution is near. Far more likely is further debate over the bankruptcy of the voltaic manufacturer Solyndra and the fate of the Keystone XL pipeline.