Al Gore calls upon tech world to do more to help fight climate change

Climate change warrior and former US presidential candidate Al Gore is calling on the tech world to help fight the battle against global warming.

At the Web Summit in Lisbon on Thursday (9 November), Gore made a passionate plea to Europe's tech elite. "My purpose here is to recruit you to be part of the solution to the climate crisis," Gore said. "You can have a bigger impact than practically any other group in the entire world. I want you to know that there is a growing market for the kinds of initiative that many of you have laboured long and hard to bring to fruition. Everything is at stake. Now is your time."

Gore lost out to George W Bush in the 2000 election after serving as vice-president to president Bill Clinton. He went on to create An Inconvenient Truth, a documentary detailing the effects of global warming and climate change.

Alternate power sources such as wind, solar and battery storage have grown exponentially since 2000, and Gore believes that similar innovation should continue. "Tech is helping us to displace fossil fuels to generate electricity from new, sustainable sources. We can match it up to the transportation system by shifting over to electric vehicles as quick as we possibly can."

Gore also attacked Donald Trump for his decision to leave the Paris climate agreement. "By the way, if there is a new president, a new president can simply give 30 days notice and the US is back in the agreement." The US is signed to the agreement until 2020. "We are going to do our part in spite of Donald Trump".

The United States is meeting expectations set out in the Paris climate agreement, but Gore says it is "not enough to solve the crisis".