Al Gore (left) praised Mitt Romney for his stance on global warming. | AP Photos Al Gore praises Romney on climate

Mitt Romney on Wednesday got a big thumbs up for his stance on global warming from a source that likely won’t help him at all in the GOP primary: Al Gore.

The former vice president and Nobel Prize winner praised Romney for not heeding right-wing calls to reject the science behind climate change.


“Good for Mitt Romney — though we've long passed the point where weak lip-service is enough on the Climate Crisis,” Gore wrote on his blog. “While other Republicans are running from the truth, he is sticking to his guns in the face of the anti-science wing of the Republican Party.”

Earlier this month, Romney told a New Hampshire town hall meeting that he believes climate change is happening and that man-made emissions are a cause.

"I don't speak for the scientific community, of course, but I believe the world is getting warmer, and I believe that humans have contributed to that," Romney said. "I can't prove that, but I believe based on what I read that the world is getting warmer.

"No. 2, I believe that humans contribute to that," he continued. "I don't know how much our contribution is to that, because I know there's been periods of greater heat and warmth than in the past, but I believe we contribute to that. And so I think it's important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may well be significant contributors to the climate change and global warming that you're seeing."

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 2:56 p.m. on June 15, 2011.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misquoted Romney as saying that it's important "for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants, of greenhouse gases, that may well be significant contributors to the climate change and global warming that you're seeing." More details are available here.

CORRECTION: Corrected by: Bridget Mulcahy @ 07/19/2011 08:33 AM CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misquoted Romney as saying that it's important "for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants, of greenhouse gases, that may well be significant contributors to the climate change and global warming that you're seeing."