Former US Vice-President Al Gore and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong discussed the issue of climate change
and the environment and exchanged views on how the international community can work together to tackle this
problem.

Mr Gore, who is Singapore to speak at the 2007 Global Brand Forum, called Mr Lee at the Instana today.

At the meeting, PM Lee told Mr Gore that climate change would be the one of the key items on the
agenda of upcoming regional meetings, such as APEC Economic Leaders Meeting in September,
as well as the Asean and East Asia Summits in November, said a statement from the Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

AP reports: Speaking at the forum on Tuesday, Mr Gore said some of the world's largest energy companies, including ExxonMobil Corp., are funding research aimed at disputing the scientific consensus on global warming as part of a campaign to mislead the public.

"There has been an organized campaign, financed to the tune of about US$10 million (euro7.2 million) a year from some of the largest carbon polluters, to create the impression that there is disagreement in the scientific community" about global warming, said Mr Gore. "In actuality, there is very little disagreement."

He likened the campaign to that of the millions of dollars spent by U.S. tobacco companies years ago on creating the appearance of uncertainty and debate within the scientific community on the harmful effects of smoking cigarettes.

"Some of the tobacco companies spent millions of dollars to create the appearance that there was disagreement on the science. And some of the large coal and utility companies and the largest oil company, ExxonMobil, have been involved in doing that exact same thing for the last several years," said Mr Gore.
"This is one of the strongest of scientific consensus views in the history of science," Gore said. "We live in a world where what used to be called propaganda now has a major role to play in shaping public opinion."

After the release of a February report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, made up of the world's top climate scientists, that warned that the cause of global warming is "very likely" man-made, "the deniers offered a bounty of US$10,000 (euro7,250) for each article disputing the consensus that people could crank out and get published somewhere," Gore said.

"They're trying to manipulate opinion and they are taking us for fools," he said.

Last year, British and American science advocacy groups accused ExxonMobil of funding groups that undermine the scientific consensus on climate change. The company said the scientists' reports were just attempts to smear ExxonMobil's name and confuse the debate.

ExxonMobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said Mr Gore's allegation was "completely false."

ExxonMobil spokesman Gantt Walton said the company's financial support for scientific reports did not mean it influenced the outcome of those studies. ExxonMobil also believes the risk that greenhouse gas emissions is contributing to climate change warrants taking action to limit them, he said.

"The recycling of this type of discredited conspiracy theory diverts attention from the real challenge at hand: how to provide the energy needed to improve global living standards while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions," he said.

Mr Gore also said as awareness of the urgent need to address climate change grows, the world is fast approaching a tipping point that, when crossed, will see an acceleration in efforts to fight the problem, and urged businesses to recognize that reducing carbon emissions is in their long-term interest.

But while Washington should lead by example, developing nations also have to play a part.

"Countries like China, just to give an example, which will next year be the largest emitter in the world, can't be excluded just because it's technically a developing country," Gore said. "When you look at the absolute amount of CO2 each year and going forward, China will soon surpass the U.S."

Gore said that as the Asian giant's economy expands, China faces an increased risk from the effects of climate change and must find ways to leapfrog old, polluting technologies in ways that can maintain growth.

In June, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency said China overtook the United States in carbon dioxide emissions by about 7.5 percent in 2006. China was 2 percent below the U.S. in greenhouse gas emissions in 2005, the agency said.