Twenty years after he made the terrifying climate apocalypse documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, former US vice-president Al Gore is back with a new message: don’t panic.
He referred specifically to the fresh “emergency” facing the world, Donald Trump.
But although he didn’t play down the influence of the climate-denying US leader, he said other countries should not over-react.
“A friend of mine said, there’s an equation worth remembering,” he began in an interview at a Ted Talks event in Belém, host city to the Cop30 climate summit.
RM Block
“Ten years ago, 195 nations signed the Paris Agreement [on cutting greenhouse gas emissions]. Only one has withdrawn. 195 minus one does not equal zero.”
“It’s unfortunate, it’s regrettable but let’s not over-react to it.”
He described Mr Trump as a modern-day King Canute, trying to hold back the tide of renewable energy and green tech. “It’s unstoppable,” he said.
Mr Gore said a new era was beginning with space for other nations to take the lead on climate and multilateralism.
Which country would lead, he wasn’t sure.
“The EU has the basic values that most people around the world respect, but they have a multiple-voices problem and a fine, but not very strong, CEO.
“China wants to be the successor to the US but because they do not share the values that most people aspire to, most people are not looking to China.”
Regardless, every nation had to work to make the new era succeed, he said.
“When the next climate proposal or international treaty comes up, it’s important for nations to stand up.”
If a new proposal comes up, it may be at Cop30 but Mr Gore said the “wackadoodle” summit needed reform.
He proposes banning fossil fuel delegates, letting the UN decide the host country [Australia and Turkey are bickering over rights to Cop31] and replacing the consensus requirement for decisions with a simple majority vote
There was another wackadoodle on his mind, Bill Gates, who, citing “climate realism”, said recently pouring money into reducing greenhouse gas emissions should no longer be a priority as human health was more important and should be first in line for investment.
“That was a silly statement,” Mr Gore said, noting that the World Health Organisation regards climate change as the biggest risk to human health.
His own Climate Trace project, an open digital resource that maps the world’s major emission sources, has recently added air pollution sources to emphasise the combined dangers.
But though he had a swipe at one tech giant, Mr Gore was quick to defend the rise of Big AI and its associated emissions.
“The electricity demand increase associated with AI is a cause of concern, not panic,” he said.
Emissions from AI were less than those from rotting waste in open landfills that could easily be enclosed, he said.
“There are many other examples of how we can compensate for the increased emissions from data centres.”
Every so often, he broke from policy talk to address the room as if on the hustings.
“I am here to recruit you,” he said. “We are winning but not fast enough.”
So would he run for president in 2028? The audience cheered loudly. “Do it, Al,” they urged.
Mr Gore said there were good young Democrats coming through the ranks and, at 77 years old, he didn’t sense a demand for another septuagenarian president.
Batting off flattery about the legacy of that mid-2000s documentary that terrified viewers and inspired a generation of activists, he could only joke.
“Yeah, because if it had not been for me, we might have a big problem.”
