Al Gore, IPCC Win Nobel Peace Prize

Climate change advocate Al Gore (59), the former U.S. vice president, and the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday.

The Nobel committee, located in Oslo, Norway, cited on October 12, “Humanity is facing serious climate change. Mr. Gore and the IPCC have done the most to create a greater understanding of the increased danger posed by climate change to humans.” The committee continues, “Mr. Gore has led campaigns and given lectures on climate change on numerous occasions. The IPCC, through the institution’s reports on the causes and impact of climate change, has led the effort to form an ever-broader informed consensus on the seriousness of climate change.”

The committee stated, “With the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the IPCC and Mr. Gore this year, we hope to further our efforts against climate change.”

Gore actively supported the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and has been a leading candidate for the prize. After winning an Oscar for his film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ and now the Nobel Prize, some think that he might enter the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

The IPCC was established in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to conduct research on climate change. The Intergovernmental organization is comprised of some 3,000 experts, including climatologists, oceanographers and economists, and has produced four reports on climate change since the 1990s. The two winners will receive a total of 10,000,000 NOK (about 1.4 billion won). The award ceremony will be held in Oslo on December 10, the date of Alfred Nobel’s death.

ecolee@donga.com