Trump and former Vice-President Gore meet to discuss climate policy

[NEW YORK] Former Vice-President Al Gore, a leading voice in the fight against climate change, and Donald Trump, who at one point called it a hoax, met on Monday in what Mr Gore called a "productive" session.

Mr Gore, a Democrat, spent about 90 minutes in meetings at the president-elect's Trump Tower apartment and office building in Manhattan. In addition to seeing Mr Trump, he also met briefly with the Republican's daughter, Ivanka, who attended a series of high-level meetings since her father won the Nov 8 election.

Mr Gore, who lost the 2000 presidential campaign to Republican George W Bush, has for years been devoted to lowering carbon emissions blamed for climate change.

As he campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton earlier this year, Mr Gore warned that Mr Trump would steer the world toward "climate catastrophe" if elected.

That warning came as Mr Trump gave speeches calling on the United States to drop out of last year's global climate accord, signed in Paris to lower carbon emissions blamed for a warming planet.

Mr Trump also referred to human-induced climate change as a hoax and had tweeted that "the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive."

Since then, however, in an interview with The New York Times, Mr Trump has indicated that he might have an open mind to joining the effort to battle climate change.

Mr Gore had a more upbeat take on Mr Trump after huddling with the wealthy New York real estate developer and television reality star.

"It was a sincere search for areas of common ground," Mr Gore said.

"I found it an extremely interesting conversation and, to be continued."

Aides to Mr Trump gave no further detail on Monday's meeting. Vice-President elect Mike Pence, asked about the meeting as he left Trump Tower, declined to comment. He said Monday was "another productive day on the transition".

After a day of meetings, Mr Trump left his home Monday evening to have dinner with his family at 21 Club, a New York City restaurant.

TALK-A-THON

Mr Gore, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for his work urging action against the risks of global warming, was also kicking off on Monday a 24-hour talk-a-thon to urge action in the battle against climate change, which threatens to raise sea levels, spread diseases and increase droughts in more regions in the world.

In a possibly related matter, Mr Trump was scheduled to meet on Tuesday with Rex Tillerson, the head of Exxon Mobil Corp who possibly is being considered for the job of secretary of state. Mr Trump takes office on Jan 20.

Exxon Mobil has embraced the 2015 Paris Agreement that would lower global greenhouse gas emissions by between 26 per cent and 28 per cent from 2005 levels by 2025.

An aide to Mr Gore said Mr Trump's team reached out to him after the former vice-president said he intended to do everything he could to work with the president-elect to ensure that the United States remains a leader in the effort to address climate change.

REUTERS