Gore, of course, has been a leader when it comes to focusing the world's attention on climate change, and he and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
Until very recently, Trump has dismissed climate change as a "hoax" likely perpetrated by the Chinese and has vowed to scrap Obama administration policies that were slowing weaning the U.S. off fossil fuels and moving it toward a clean energy future.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Gore told attendees at a Florida rally for Trump's opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, that "based on the ideas he has presented" Trump's likely policies "would take us toward a climate catastrophe."
That made Gore's visit to Trump Tower, during which he also met with Ivanka Trump, the president-elect's daughter, something of an eyebrow-raiser.
While it's true Trump has sent mixed signals about climate change and renewable energy since the election -- even acknowledging that climate change is real and that there is "some connectivity" to human activity -- his transition team has continued to court advocates for the fossil fuel industry and climate change skeptics to fill prominent posts in the incoming Trump administration.
Trump has commented on his meeting with Gore, but after it ended, the former vice president told reporters gathered in the tower's lobby that the conversation was “lengthy and very productive,” and characterized it as “a sincere search for areas of common ground.”
When asked where his discussions with the president will go from here, Gore offered only a cryptic "to be continued."
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