The green labor market offers significant employment opportunities in the future, it has been claimed.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), more skilled workers will be required within sustainable industries in order to meet global climate change targets.

It is taking part in talks in Cancun, Mexico, during the United Nation Convention on Climate change (UNFCCC).

At the Conference of the Parties negotiations, the ILO plans to discuss the potential for climate change policies to alter labor markets by changing patterns of production and consumption, as well as ways of generating more green jobs.

In addition, the organization states: "It is becoming clear that measures to protect the climate and to adapt to climate change will require active engagement of millions of employers and workers."

The UN gathering will run until December 10th in Mexico and the country's president Felipe Calderon used his opening speech to highlight the impact of growing numbers of natural disasters on poor and vulnerable people around the world.

Posted by Sarah Dixon