"He offered strong support and commitment to work very closely with me, and I am going to fully use his very powerful political message to mobilize political will and thus enhance the awareness of the international community with this issue," Ban told reporters.

The secretary-general has given up trying to organize a summit on global warming this year but wants a high-level meeting on the subject shortly before world leaders come to the UN General Assembly in September.

Gore did not speak to reporters except to say, "Of course," when asked if the meeting with Ban concerned global warming.