Al Gore, UN Panel Share Award

The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to former vice president Albert A. Gore Jr. and to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for their efforts to disseminate knowledge about climate change and lay foundations for counteracting it.

"I am deeply honored to receive the Nobel Peace Prize," Gore said in a statement. "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."

The Nobel committee praised IPCC for its four scientific reports over the past two decades. The reports, produced by about 2,500 researchers from more than 130 countries, have "created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming," the committee wrote in its citation. It said that in awarding the prize, it is seeking to reduce the threat that climate change poses to the security of mankind.

In New Delhi, India, IPCC Chairman Rajendra K. Pachauri said: "I feel deeply humbled by the honor that has been bestowed on me by the Nobel Prize committee. This is an honor that goes to all the scientists and authors who have contributed to the work of the IPCC." The award highlights the need for action to meet the challenge climate change presents, he added.

The announcement has prompted broad praise from many members of Congress on both sides of the aisle and from environmental groups. White House spokesman Tony Fratto said President George W. Bush "is happy for Vice President Gore" and for the IPCC scientists.

Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) said, "As a fellow American, Tennessean, and public servant, I commend the Nobel committee's selection of Vice President Gore and the IPCC for this year's Peace Prize." Gordon chairs the House Committee on Science & Technology. "As my committee has discovered firsthand, each of IPCC's groundbreaking efforts on climate change has provided us with greater knowledge, tools, and proof than ever before to combat this alarming phenomenon."