Al Gore hopeful of Paris climate summit success

Nobel laureate Al Gore said Friday a shift in global attitudes and well-advanced negotiations boosted hopes of success at a UN climate summit which opens in Paris in just over two weeks.

"I think we already know enough to predict that the outcome in Paris is going to be successful. Even the text that they are working on, it's light years ahead of any previous negotiations," the former US vice president-turned climate activist told AFP in the French capital.

"The French have done an excellent job in organising it, but nations all over the world have learned the lessons of the past and are preparing for a bright future," he added.

Gore, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for his work on climate change, spoke before launching a 24-hour global event featuring performers like Elton John and leaders including French President Francois Hollande to beat the drum for urgent climate action ahead of the summit meant to forge a pact to limit global warming.

Gore said a critical mass of social mobilisation bode well for the 195-nation UN summit from November 30 to December 11.

"In every great social movement for change, those who have advocated for the necessary and the just change have faced the challenge of convincing others to do the right thing," he said.

"In this process we have now reached the point where the vast majority of people understand what the climate crisis is all about."

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who will host the talks, echoed Gore's drive.

"I think we'll avoid mayhem," Fabius said.

"Either we can leave things be, and the catastrophe will be horrific, or we can start to turn things around, and for me Paris will be the turning point," he added.

Negotiators in Paris will aim to strike a bargain that limits global temperature rise to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial times by limiting greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels.

Talks in 2009 in Copenhagen, which also sought to craft a world climate rescue pact, ended in failure and confusion.

A slideshow presented by Gore about the dangers of climate change was the basis of the popular 2006 documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," which won two Academy Awards.

The latest event he spearheads, dubbed "24 Hours of Reality and Live Earth" will feature artists, scientists and politicians and air online on Friday and Saturday.
Source: AFP