Gore confident global climate deal coming

LONDON, March 14 (UPI) -- Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore says he is confident world leaders will soon reach agreement on how to tackle global warming.

In his first interview since the U.S. presidential election, Gore predicted climate talks scheduled for December in Denmark should end with a global climate deal, The Guardian reported Saturday.

"There is a very impressive consensus now emerging around the world that the solutions to the economic crisis are also the solutions to the climate crisis," Gore told the British newspaper. "I actually think we will get an agreement at Copenhagen."

Gore, who examined the global warming issue in his 2006 documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," credited the election of U.S. President Barack Obama with helping bring about a global attitude shift.

The former vice president also credited business leaders worldwide with recognizing the problem, leading to an enhanced political call for a response to the environmental threat.

"(Obama's election) is one of the main factors," Gore told The Guardian. "But we also have a big ally in reality the planet is under assault. This collision with human civilization ... is increasingly dire."