Former US Vice President Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for his efforts to raise global awareness about the threat of climate change. Gore is optimistic about prospects for a global deal in Montreal. "In 1986, when the first crisis of the global atmosphere emerged with the discovery of the ozone hole about Antarctica, one year later the nations of the world passed the Montreal Protocol," he tells SPIEGEL. "It was bitterly criticized by environmentalists as being too weak and insufficient. But then it was toughened and toughened. ... We are on our way to solving that crisis."