Selected from nearly a million photos in the Xinhua archive for the past decade, 41 were put on exhibition at the UN Headquarters in New York Monday, shedding new light on green economy and its benefits to human beings.

Entitled "Green Economy and Sustainable Development," the "Xinhua Gallery" photo exhibition was jointly launched by the Chinese Permanent Mission to the UN and Xinhua News Agency.

"Green economy has become an important international trend for the future and it's a vital means to achieve sustainable development," Li Baodong, Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations, said at the opening of the exhibition.

The photos, shot by Xinhua reporters and photographers around the world, cover a wide range of places that represent green economy and sustainable development.

Among the pictures were one showing a greenhouse in suburban Beijing which can save 30 to 50 percent of energy, and one about Europe's second largest wind farm, the Marachon Wind Farm in Spain, that provides electricity to 600,000 people and cut CO2 emissions by about 420,000 tons a year.

The Chinese government puts great emphasis on sustainable development and green economy, Li said. "By focusing on scientific development and changing the outdated mode of economic growth, we are striving to build a resource-efficient and environment-friendly society."

"These photos show the severe challenges facing mankind with regard to sustainable development, and the efforts made by the international community in response to these challenges and the achievements it has scored," Li said.

"The exhibition is very original and timely," Kiyo Akasaka, the UN under-secretary-general for communications and public information, said at the opening ceremony.

"Green economy can be the pathway to sustainable development," Akasaka said.

He noted that this photo exhibition will help improve people's understanding of green economy and its benefits to people's lives worldwide.

"Green economy constitutes one of the three pillars of a trilogy plan of the president of the General Assembly -- the other two are global governance and the Millennium Development Goals," a set of eight anti-poverty targets to be reached by 2015, Jean Victor Nkolo, spokesman for the president of the UN General Assembly, told Xinhua.

"It provides this important pillar that has to shape our future. It creates jobs and it is very good for our future," Nkolo said.

According to a UN Environment Program report, a green economy is one that is low carbon, resource efficient, socially-inclusive, and that protects and enhances biodiversity of the ecosystem.

Since its debut in May 2010, the "Xinhua Gallery" photo exhibition project has won wide acclaim around the world.