INDONESIA: Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore criticises U.S. for blocking progress on climate change

Record ID: 566410

  • Title: INDONESIA: Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore criticises U.S. for blocking progress on climate change
  • Date: 14th December 2007
  • Summary: (W3) NUSADUA, BALI, INDONESIA (DECEMBER 13, 2007) (REUTERS) MALE AUDIENCE MEMBER TAKING PICTURE
  • Embargoed: 29th December 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Indonesia
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Topics: International Relations,Entertainment,Environment / Natural World
  • Reuters ID: LVA6F239YEKMG7IZW9R35LP643DT
  • Story Text: Efforts to start two-year negotiations on a global warming pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol flagged on Thursday (December 13), the penultimate day of the Dec. 3-14 talks, after the European Union (EU) accused the United States of lacking ambition.
    Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, fresh from collecting the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, won applause on the sidelines of the talks by adding his voice to criticisms of Washington.

    "I am going to speak an inconvenient truth," Gore told an audience of several hundred, playing on the name of his film, before naming the United States as the main block to progress so far in Bali.
    And in low tones said: "My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here, in Bali. We all know that," he said, to rapturous applause and cheers.
    Arriving fresh from Oslo, where he had picked up the Nobel Peace Prize, Gore urged governments to forge a 'new path' towards a global climate change agreement in spite of what he described as an obstructive United States.

    "I don't know how to tell you how you can find the grace to navigate around this enormous obstacle. This elephant in the room that I've just been un-diplomatic enough to name," he said, referring to agreement which could still be made in Bali on help for developing countries to adapt to and cut their contribution to climate change.
    Fellow Nobel Laureate Rajendra Pachauri, who had shared the prize on behalf of a U.N. panel of climate scientists, vaulted onto the podium to shake Gore's hand.
    Earlier on Thursday the EU accused the United States of climate inaction, saying the rest of the world was still waiting for U.S. leadership, and threatened to boycott a U.S.-hosted climate meet of major economies next month.
    The Bali talks are split over the guidelines for starting two years of formal negotiations on a deal to succeed Kyoto.
    The EU wants a firm goal, while the United States, Japan, Canada and Australia say figures would prejudge the outcome.
    Gore stole the show in Bali after two days of lengthy ministerial speeches which had waxed on familiar themes about the urgency of global warming and the need for cooperation.
    In a speech familiar to viewers of his film "An Inconvenient Truth" and to a global climate change lecture tour, Gore tried to understand a lack of urgency to fight climate change which many had hoped the Bali meeting would address.
    Gore said that new evidence this week showed that the North Pole may be ice-free in summer as soon as 2012.
    Gore counted one year and 40 days to the day the United States would have a new president to succeed George W. Bush, expecting a successor who would take global warming seriously.
    Gore has repeatedly said he has no plans to run.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register