Although the Best Documentary award is officially presented to the winning film’s director, in this case Davis Guggenheim, Gore joined the director and others involved in the productions on stage to accept the award and took the opportunity to reiterate the movie’s messaging, saying: “My fellow Americans, people all over the world, we need to solve the climate crisis. It’s not a political issue, it’s a moral issue. We have everything we need to get started with the possible will to act. That’s a renewable resource. Let’s renew it.”

Taking to the stage earlier in the evening to unveil some of the measures the Academy had taken to make this year ’s awards more eco-friendly, the former Vice President was joined by fellow environmentalist, Leonardo DiCaprio.

Green efforts by the event’s organiser’s included providing presenters’ transport to the awards in hybrid vehicles, printing ballot papers from partially recycled paper and serving organic produce at the Governor’s Ball before donating the leftovers to a local homeless shelter.

“For the first time in the history of the Oscars, this show has officially gone green,” DiCaprio said.

While on stage, the star of Titanic - nominated for Best Actor for his role in Blood Diamond - questioned the unsuccessful Democrat Presidential candidate of 2000 as to whether he had any further announcements to make; in reference to rumours that Gore may again stand for the Presidency.

“I’m going to take this opportunity right here and now, to formally announce my intentions to…” said Gore before the orchestra broke in and he walked off, laughing arm-in-arm with DiCaprio. However, Gore soon quashed the speculation by later admitting backstage that he had no intention to stand for office again and would be concentrating his efforts on pressuring governments to act on climate-crisis issues.

Melissa Etheridge accepted the Oscar for Best Song for her composition, ‘I Need to Wake Up’, which she wrote specifically for the film. In accepting the award, Etheridge thanked Gore for inspiring her and then mirrored the messaging of her song’s lyrics, saying: “We can be the generation that woke up, and did something, and changed.”

Global Cool will this evening be attending a special post-Oscar screening of ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, which is set to be followed by a Q&A session with Environment Secretary, David Miliband, and Director of Friends of the Earth, Tony Juniper. If you have any questions you would like us to raise at the session, please email them to questions@globalcool.org.

Click here for Global Cool’s review of ‘An Inconvenient Truth’.