Part of any effort made by the California Postsecondary Education Commission to better understand the nexus between postsecondary education and the workforce is learning more about emerging economic and workforce trends. The emergence of the "green economy"-- economic activity based on environmentally-friendly, sustainable principles and practices--is likely to fuel and transform new and existing educational programs and careers. Earlier Commission research papers on the postsecondary education-workforce nexus discussed the multiple roles played by the state's public and independent colleges and universities in supporting workforce development, including general academic preparation for a wide variety of jobs, direct training of workers in specific occupations, and research that supports innovation and technological advances that, in turn, spur economic growth. This multi-layered connection between meeting California's economic and workforce needs and the postsecondary institutions that help do that, is particularly visible in the green economy. This paper is an overview of what is happening in the green economy and how it affects California's colleges and universities.