UN climate panel chief Rajendra Pachauri shares Nobel Peace Prize with former US vice president Al Gore

12 October 2007

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change made the strongest ever plea for concerted efforts to reverse the process of global warming. The panel also established beyond doubt the link between mankind''s activities and global warming, which is gaining widespread recognition.

"I can''t believe it," Pachauri said, adding, "I feel privileged sharing it with someone as distinguished as him (Al Gore)."

Al Gore "is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted," the Nobel citation said.

The United Nations committee, a network of 2,000 scientists, has produced two decades of scientific reports that have "created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming," the citation added.

Gore, who lost the 2000 US presidential election to George W. Bush, has said he is not interested in running again but has not flatly rejected the notion.

The former vice president said in a statement that he was deeply honoured to receive the prize and planned to donate his half of the prize to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a nonprofit climate group that he heads.