LONDON - Germany's decision nearly a decade ago to promote the use of green energy has paid off in jobs.

In 2008, more people worked creating renewable green power in Germany than the old carbon intensive kind, says an interim report released Monday by the Global Climate Network, an international consortium of policy and research organisations.

Other nations - including developing ones - stand to similarly benefit by passing ambitious renewable energy targets, boosting research and development, phasing out subsidies for carbon -intensive industries and the like, the study argues.

That's good news for China, which hopes by 2020 to have made enough investment in green energy to continue boosting its economic growth without a similar boost in carbon emissions. China, the report says, could see tens of millions of new jobs as a result.

Other major developing nations could reap similar boosts in jobs, the study suggests - but only if they avoid plentiful pitfalls ahead by being "bold, smart and collaborative," said Andrew Pendleton, a senior research fellow at London's Institute for Public Policy Research and coordinator of the climate network.

That means, for instance, scoping out what the competition is doing, and figuring out what they can do best. Desert countries might focus on large-scale solar power, for instance, but probably shouldn't be developing biomass plans.

Similarly, focusing on a technology other countries already do very well isn't a path to success, researchers warn.

Another peril is promising too much in the way of specifics about jobs. Investment in wind energy in India, for instance, is projected to create between 7,000 and 288,000 jobs, depending on what happens both there and in other countries.

Politicians who make big promises and fail to deliver could turn public opinion against green efforts.

"Politicians should adopt a guarded approach," the report suggests.

Leaders should also remember that manufacturing is hardly the only source of new green jobs. Countries with skills in providing financial and legal services, and project management, for instance, should be able to get in on the green boom if they have the right policies in place, the study says.

For governments who get it right, the payoffs could be substantial. Job-strapped South Africa, for instance, stands to lose 0.3 percent of its current jobs if the government simply aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 9,000 tons a year by 2050, most thoroughly short-term efficiency measures.

But if it aims bigger, for a reduction of 13,800 tons, and puts in place government policies to back that green push, it could spur a 1 percent net boost in jobs by 2015, researchers believe. Developing world leaders "have a massive opportunity sitting right in front of them," Pendleton said.

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