Gore basks in Nobel glory 7 years after reading his 'political obituary' in loss to Bush

OSLO, Norway — He suffered through a divisive loss in an oh-so-close bid for the U.S. presidency.

But on Monday, Al Gore basked in the vindication of receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for his campaign against global warming.

"Seven years ago ... I read my own political obituary in a judgment that seemed to me harsh and mistaken — if not premature," Gore said in his acceptance speech, two days short of the anniversary of the 2000 Supreme Court decision that put George W. Bush in the White House.

"But that unwelcome verdict also brought a precious if painful gift: an opportunity to search for fresh new ways to serve my purpose," Gore added.

The former vice president shared the Nobel with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for sounding the alarm over global warming and spreading awareness on how to counteract it. The U.N. panel was represented at the ceremony by its leader, Rajendra Pachauri.

Gore's name is now etched in Nobel history among the likes of Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa.

Already an Oscar-winner for his climate-change documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," Gore has found the peace prize giving him an even larger platform to spread his message about global warming and the need to rein in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

"I am under no illusions that there is any position in the world with as much potential for influencing the future as that of president of the United States," he told The Associated Press before accepting the award.

"But that was not to be, and I am grateful I have found a way to play a useful role in helping to form the world's resolve to solve this crisis."

In his Nobel acceptance speech, Gore urged the United States and China — the world's biggest emitters of greenhouse gases — to take the lead on climate change "or stand accountable before history for their failure to act."

He said it was time for humanity to rise up against a looming climate crisis.

"It is time to make peace with the planet," Gore said. "We must quickly mobilize our civilization with the urgency and resolve that has previously been seen only when nations mobilized for war."

Gore urged government officials at a U.N. climate conference in Bali, Indonesia, to prepare the ground for quick negotiations on an emissions-limitation treaty to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on global warming.