Embracing a greener future is about charting a course of economic prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic, U.S. and British government officials said Thursday.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond in Boston, where they toured a wind technology center.

Both leaders in a joint editorial published Thursday in the Boston Globe said economic advances would come from the development of renewable energy resources like wind energy.

"It's time to embrace the energy of the future -- not to endanger good jobs, but to create them," they write.

Britain is a world leader in terms of installed offshore wind energy. In the United States, there are more than 900 utility-scale wind projects in service on land and the government is preparing to advance the technology offshore.

Both leaders said their countries are increasing investments in clean energy. For the United States, the clean energy sector has created more than 70,000 jobs, while the British economy is on track to cut emissions by 80 percent by 2050 through the use of renewables.

"It is clear governments around the world need to do more," Kerry and Hammond said. "When they do, it will create even greater opportunities in a sector that's already thriving."