Global warming is a central issue to our time and our decisions will have unequivocal repercussions over the following generations. I am thus extremely pleased with the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize to the Intergovernmental Panel for Climatic Change (IPCC) and to Al Gore.

This Prize recognizes the merits of the laureates in calling the attention of the public and of the political decision makers to the relevance of the fight against climatic change, but must equally be looked upon as a challenge to us all – States, enterprises and citizens: it is time to decarbonise our model of development, investing in clean energies, in renewable energies and in energy efficiency, within the framework of the Kyoto Protocol.

Al Gore significantly contributed towards the removal of the issue of climatic change from the sphere of influence of the experts and its reaching, for the first time, millions of citizens worldwide. I had the opportunity to organize, in March 2007, in the Palace of Belém, a very fruitful meeting between Al Gore and some 10 Portuguese experts in the energy area. On that occasion we reached the conclusion that Portugal had unique worldwide conditions for scientific research and technological innovation in the area of renewable energies.

The choice, by the Nobel Committee, of the topic of climatic change arises at a crucial time, since we are precisely in the beginning of international negotiations to consider the new targets and the new instruments for the reduction of the emission of hothouse gases in the post 2012 period.

This Prize must thus be considered as an incentive towards the speed and ambition of these negotiations. The Planet cannot wait as long for an agreement regarding the post 2012 system, as it waited for the coming into force of the Kyoto Protocol.

Aníbal Cavaco Silva