He contradicted a recent UN report that said tackling global warming would involve a sacrifice in economic growth.
Mr Clinton also sided with China and India, which he said could not fairly be expected to cut their carbon emissions unless wealthy countries such as the US took the lead.
Later this week, US President George W. Bush will host a Washington summit on global warming, which will include the leaders of India and China.
The CGI is focusing on climate change in addition to global health, education and poverty alleviation.
Mr Clinton will host his first Asian CGI - in Hong Kong - next year.
"There's way more economic opportunity than cost here, and I think unless we take the lead in the US, we'll never get the Indians and the Chinese to do it," Mr Clinton said.
"But we will never be able to persuade them of that until we put our money where our mouth is ... there's money in this. This is economically smart."
Citing a recent CGI initiative in which Mr Clinton persuaded five banks to stump up $5 billion to refit urban buildings that would be paid back by utility savings over time, Mr Clinton said the US should move rapidly to upgrade its regulatory targets to improve energy efficiency.
He cited Britain and Denmark as having created new jobs through new technology investments that had let them avoid the stagnation in median wages that had affected the US middle classes since 2000.
"In this decade, the UK has had rising median incomes and no increase in inequality because they've found a source of new jobs," he said.
