Gore: Next U.S. leader must take climate seriously

OSLO, Norway (AP) -- Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore said Monday he believes the next U.S. president will shift the country's course on climate change and engage in global efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

"The new president, whichever party wins the election, is likely to have to change the position on this climate crisis," Gore said. "I do believe the U.S., soon, is to have a more constructive role."

The former U.S. vice president's remarks come a day after he said reducing carbon dioxide emissions is essential to the "survival of our civilization" -- and reiterated he had no plans to run for president.

At a joint news conference with the U.N.'s chief climate scientist, Gore called for grassroots movements worldwide to push political leaders into action to curb the emissions that contributed to global warming.

"It is a question of the survival of our civilization," Gore told reporters at the Nobel Institute in downtown Oslo on Sunday. "CO2 increases anywhere are a threat to the future of civilization everywhere."

Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shared the Nobel for their efforts to draw the world's attention to the dangers of global warming. Gore and IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri formally receive the prize on Monday.

The news conference and meetings with Norwegian leaders marked the start of three days of celebrations of the 2007 Nobel Peace laureates. The ceremony Monday will be followed by a parade and banquet in the winners' honor, and the traditional Nobel peace concert on Tuesday.

Asked whether he had made any final decision on whether to enter the U.S. presidential race, Gore said: "I have no plans to be a candidate." He said he did not expect to re-enter politics in the future "but I see no reason to rule it out entirely."

Gore spoke as world governments met in Bali, Indonesia, in hopes of hammering out a plan for a tougher treaty to replace the Kyoto climate agreement by 2012.

Gore, who earlier urged the countries to speed up the timetable for reducing emissions by two years, said he was optimistic about tougher measures partly because growing public awareness of global warming was spurring "the world's first people power movement" on climate change.

He said that could force political leaders to take action.

"They have to find some courage to resist the special interests, the special fears, the concern that often have wider influences than they should and instead respect the demands of the human future," Gore said.

This year's Nobel Peace Prize is part of that process, Gore said, because it "has already caused increased attention to the problem of moving along to solve the crisis of climate."

Pachauri warned that, in his opinion, data coming in after the panel concluded work on its latest assessment suggests that "the future could very well be far more dire than we believe it is today."

He said the world cannot hope that technology alone will counter the threat, but that people must be prepared to change to way they live.

"I don't think this means we have to go back to living in caves but lifestyle change means you have to be conscious of the impact of your actions," said Pachauri.

Asked by a Norwegian youth newspaper what young people could do, Gore said every effort helps.

"A lot of them you probably know already: Changing a light bulb," said Gore. "All these individual acts are important. They all help, but they won't solve the problem by themselves unless we have changes in the laws and in treaties."

The Nobel prizes are always presented on the December 10 anniversary of the death of their creator, Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel. The peace prize is presented in Oslo and the other prizes are handed out in Stockholm, Sweden.