Armand Rousso Green Biz Blog | Green Business Growth

According to Kevin Doyle of the Green Economy, green businesses are growing at an average of 5% per year. Even companies such as WalMart, General Mills, Kraft Foods, Dean Foods and more are turning to initiatives that will allow them to sell earth friendly merchandise.

Currently Green Business is a $12 billion dollar industry and employs nearly 1.6 million people in about 118,000 jobs. The greening of industry is creating a constellation of new careers, and they’re not your everyday forestry professions. Many of them are environmental twists on old professions. Others are engineering careers tied to research in renewable technologies like wind energy and ethanol production.

For instance:

Emissions brokers: In a market economy, credits to emit greenhouse gases can be traded on an exchange, and brokers facilitate the deal. If the U.S. ever moves to a mandatory trading system, expect this field to boom.

Bio-mimicry engineers: This new branch of science uses Mother Nature as a model for solving engineering problems. For example, Atlanta’s Sto Corp. created a self-cleaning paint that repels dirt whenever it gets wet, just like the lotus leaf does.

Sustainability coordinators: Corporations from AstraZeneca (nyse: AZN - news - people ) to Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ) are now employing managers to oversee the economic and environmental components of company efforts.

Green architects: With an increasing focus on energy-efficient buildings, a growing number of architects and developers are getting certified to become specialists in green design.

There are a number of sites out there related to earth friendly jobs such as GreenBiz.com and GreenJobs.com (renewable energy). A number of opportunities for businesses as well as VC companies to start thinking about the cost/benefit of adopting green business practices. You can read about Wal-Mart’s initiatives here.