By Yi Whan-woo
SEOGWIPO, Jeju Island ― Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore dismissed concerns over President Donald Trump’s move to dismantle environmental protection measures, Thursday, saying international action on climate change is “unstoppable.”
Gore, an environmentalist, said the U.S. will keep its role in reducing carbon emissions globally. He said his country will help the world reach set goals despite Trump’s anti-climate change moves.
His remarks at the 12th Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity came after Trump hinted at the United States pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord on Twitter, Wednesday.
“The United States is going to continue reducing emissions regardless of what President Trump does,” Gore said during a special session, “Challenge and Opportunity of Climate Change: Is a Better Growth Possible?” at the International Convention Center in Seogwipo, Jeju Island.
“We have a constitutional government with checks and balances. The courts have already blocked some of what he has proposed. The Congress has already refused to go along with other things he has proposed,” he said. “More significantly, our state governments are moving much faster now than commitments made by (former) President Barack Obama.”
He pointed out that Apple, Google and other American businesses are going “100 percent” in developing and using renewable energy.
“This is now not simply a politically motivated set of changes. Businesses, consumers and voters are in the driver’s seat. And because of the trends with the cost of renewable energy coming down so rapidly, this is unstoppable,” he said.
Gore claimed the world is in the early stages of a “global, sustainability revolution,” which he said will develop rapidly by capitalizing on digital technologies.
“It has the magnitude of the Industrial Revolution but it has the speed of the Digital Revolution,” he said.
“The new digital tools we have, including the internet of things and artificial intelligence, is magnifying our capacity to be much more efficient to reduce and eliminate wasteful use of energy and to adopt renewable clean sources of energy.
“So, have hope. We’re going to win this. And I say to you to as a citizen of the United States, the U.S. will be there helping to lead the way.”
Citing the Pentagon, Gore warned of political instability and threats to national security caused by climate change, such as divisions within the European Union over the refugee crisis following droughts and food shortages in the Middle East and North Africa, and the influx of refugees from the region.
“It has been recognized by the military in my country as a national security issue for a long time,” he said.
Meanwhile, he praised Jeju Special Self-Governing Province’s efforts to become a “carbon-free island,” pointing out its push to replace fossil-fueled cars with electric ones as well as its plan to bolster the use of wind energy.
Gore has been to Korea several times. But this was his first trip to Jeju Island.
He served as the 45th U.S vice president from 1993 to 2001.
Since then, he has helped increase public awareness around the world on the risks of climate change.
He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 jointly with the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for his work on environmental protection, including his 2006 documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.”