Al Gore awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize

Former Vice President Al Gore and a United Nations panel on climate change were named cowinners of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their work against global warming.

Gore, who shares the award with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said at a news conference that global warming “truly is a planetary emergency,” and that he would donate his portion of the Nobel prize money - about $750,000 - to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a nonprofit environmental group. Gore is chairman of its board.

The honor was given to Gore and the IPCC ”for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change,“ the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in its statement Friday morning in Oslo.

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Letter from Al Gore:

Subject: I am deeply honored

Dear Rose,

I am deeply honored to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. This award is even more meaningful because I have the honor of sharing it with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change--the world's pre-eminent scientific body devoted to improving our understanding of the climate crisis--a group whose members have worked tirelessly and selflessly for many years. We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity. It is also our greatest opportunity to lift global consciousness to a higher level.

My wife, Tipper, and I will donate 100 percent of the proceeds of the award to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan non-profit organization that is devoted to changing public opinion in the U.S. and around the world about the urgency of solving the climate crisis.

Thank you,

Al Gore