It is hard to pin down what constitutes a green-collar job but the American Solar Energy Society said jobs there are 8.5 million U.S. jobs that involve Earth-friendly enterprises and renewable energy sources. That figure could grow by 5 million in the next 10 years, Jerome Ringo of the Apollo Alliance told The New York Times.

Green-collar jobs, defined by purpose, could include bankers, roofers, scientists or teachers. They include "Ph.D.'s and Ph.-do's," said Van Jones, president of Green for All in Oakland, Calif.

"We need people who are highly educated at the theoretical level and we need people who are highly educated at the level of skilled labor," he said.

The concept is seen as a panacea that will lift the economy and steer the environment in the right direction, the report said.

"It will affect every business and every industry," Lois Quam, managing director for alternative investments at a bank in Minneapolis, told the Times.