Gore, 59, was vice-president under Bill Clinton, and was defeated by George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential elections after a controversial Florida vote recount. He has since devoted his time to environmental campaigning, winning an Oscar for his 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth.
In recent years, the Norwegian Nobel committee has widened its interpretation of peacemaking to recognize human rights, democracy, poverty elimination, and the environment.
The peace prize went to Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of 2,500 scientists from 130 countries, "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."
The award is certain to increase pressure on Gore to run in 2008's U.S. presidential elections. However, despite a growing campaign by Democrat supporters to persuade him to stand, the latest Nobel Peace Prize winner has so far shown no inclination to enter the fray.
