Former Vice President Al Gore, who has recently come back into the political spotlight as the Obama administration moves ahead on climate change and other environmental policies, will headline the opening of a new arm of the Brookings Institution Friday.

The almost-president from Tennessee will discuss "government reinvention and tackling American governance challenges" during his keynote speech at the opening of Brookings' "Center for Effective Public Management."

"The center's work will address the challenges the public sector faces as it tries to ensure sound performance, good governance and strong leadership in the U.S. government," said Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution in a release. "The creation of the Center for Effective Public Management is the capstone of Brookings' long-standing domestic policymaking efforts and research work."

Gore, a champion of anti-global warming efforts, has kept a fairly low public profile in recent years. But he shared the stage with former President Bill Clinton Tuesday at the Clinton Global Initiative to discuss the environment alongside moderator Charlie Rose.

"At first, I didn't think Al was going to be able to come," Clinton said of the encounter to Rose. "Then he had to come to New York and so he also said he could come by. Then he had this interview with you, then we started talking about climate change and this U.N. report that's coming up in a few days, and one thing led to another, and here we are."

Gore also weighed in on the Sept. 20 announcement by the Obama administration regarding carbon dioxide limits for new power plants, calling it, "an important step forward for our nation and our planet."

"From now on, future coal- and gas-fired power plants must take responsibility for their global warming pollution by reducing or capturing their overall emissions," Gore wrote in his blog.

"The policies announced today, combined with the rest of the President's Climate Action Plan, will put us on the path toward solving the climate crisis, but Congress must also soon face the reality of the situation," he said.

Gore advocated for a controversial carbon tax as a means of further curbing carbon emissions credited by most scientists for contributing to global warming and the culprit of increasingly volatile weather patterns.

"We have seen the disturbing consequences that the climate crisis has to offer — from a drought that covered 60 percent of our nation to Superstorm Sandy which wreaked havoc and cost the taxpayers billions, from wildfires spreading across large areas of the American West to severe flooding in cities all across our country," he wrote. "We need a price on carbon. We need it now."