Both prize winners finally got together in Oslo on Sunday, thanked the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and praised its decision to award what many consider to be a "Nobel for the environment."
Gore, the former US vice president who's become an international campaigner to stop global warming, and Pachauri, leader of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said they both had noticed heightened global awareness of climate change in the eight weeks since the prize winners were announced.
Gore claimed the Norwegian committee was a good steward "of the wishes of Alfred Nobel" and he also thanked "the people of Norway," for helping sustain the prestige of the Peace Prize.
"It's a great honor for me to share the prize with the scientists of the UN (climate panel)," said Gore, adding that he's not a scientist himself. Nonetheless, he said he had not doubt that "what we are facing is a planetary emergency."
"What the Nobel Committee has done in drawing attention to this is extraordinary," Gore said. Now he and Pachauri hope that a climate conference going on in Bali will result in a mandate to drastically cut carbon emissions worldwide.
Gore and Pachauri will be presented with this year's Nobel Peace Prize during a traditional ceremony in Oslo's City Hall at 1pm on Monday.
