Obama meeting Gore to talk climate

In a further indication that the environment will form one of the centrepieces of his first 100 days in office, US president-elect Barack Obama will today meet with Nobel laureate and former vice president Al Gore to discuss the future direction of US energy and climate change policy.

The announcement of the private meeting in Chicago, which will also be attended by vice president-elect Joe Biden, immediately reignited speculation that Gore could be offered a job in the Obama administration.

Previous reports have claimed that Gore could take up an official roving climate change ambassador position, offering guidance on climate change policy.

However, the Associated Press cited senior unnamed Democrats as saying the meeting was not expected to discuss Gore taking up a formal role for the Obama White House.

Obama spokesman Nick Shapiro said in a statement that the meeting would " discuss energy and climate change and how policies in this area can stimulate the economy and create jobs".

The role clean tech can play in driving the US economy and creating green collar jobs has been one of the defining characteristics of the current transition period, with Obama signalling that he intends to make good on commitments to install a nationwide carbon cap-and-trade scheme and make $150bn (£102bn) of clean tech funding available as soon as possible.