Al Gore offered a grim outlook Sunday for world migration patterns, predicting that migrants “crossing international borders in larger numbers” might soon be the result of climate change.
“If we don’t take action, there could be as many as one billion climate refugees crossing international borders in the next several decades,” Mr. Gore said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
He said that ”a few million has contributed to this wave of populist authoritarianism and dictatorships and so forth. What would a billion do?”
The former vice president, who has dedicated his post-electoral career to combating climate change, cited more extreme weather events and natural disasters.
A frequent target of Republican criticism, conservatives have for decades accused Mr. Gore of engaging in alarmist rhetoric about doomsday scenarios.
The globe had its hottest year on record this year, a statistic that has become an annual occurrence.
“The survival of our civilization is at stake,” Mr. Gore said. “It sounds dire, but it is dire.”