October 14, 2007 - The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to former Vice President Al Gore and the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) "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."

Created in 1988, the IPCC includes scientists from many nations, working together to provide assessments of the state of knowledge on climate change. The first assessment report was completed in 1990, followed by reports in 1995, 2001, and 2007. The most recent report, Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis, was co-chaired by National Academy of Sciences member Susan Solomon.

NAS President Ralph Cicerone commends Gore for his tireless efforts, over more than twenty years, to raise attention to the climate change issue, as well as the IPCC scientists for continuing to collect, critically review and synthesize new findings. "Our understanding of climate change has moved at a faster pace than many of us thought possible only two decades ago," Cicerone said.

The prize will be presented on Dec. 10 in Oslo, Norway.

• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• Nobel Assembly Prize Announcement