Former U.S. vice president and presidential candidate Al Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his environmental activism and fight against global warming.
The committee, based in Oslo, Norway, praised Gore and called him "one of the world's leading environmentalist politicians."
Gore, who will share the award with the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said in an e-mailed statement that he is "deeply honored to receive the Novel Peace Prize."
"We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity," Gore added.
As a Nobel laureate, he will receive a gold medal and diploma and will split 10 million Swedish kronor – about $1.7 million – with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Gore won an Academy Award for best documentary with An Inconvenient Truth, his 2006 film on the climate crisis.
The 59-year-old served as vice president during Bill Clinton's two terms of presidency. Gore also narrowly missed out to George W. Bush in 2000's controversial presidential election.
