CORRECTED: Gore says he has no plans to run in 2008

[Ron Burgundy]

Reuters - (Correcting to clarify that Gore did not rule out runningfor president but said only he did not plan to run. Changesheadline.)

TOKYO (Reuters) - Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore saidon Monday he had no plans to run in the next presidential race,despite rumors that he might build on the higher profilecreated by his environmental campaign to do so.

Asked whether he planned to run in the 2008 election, Goresaid: "I don't have plans to be a candidate again. I'm involvedin a different kind of campaign."

During a visit to Japan to promote his award-winningdocumentary "An Inconvenient Truth," Gore also urged Japan'stop business lobby to spark a policy change on global warmingby sending a strong message to its U.S. counterparts.

"The Japanese business community, because of the respectwith which you are regarded, can have a powerful influence onthe shaping of opinions within the U.S. business community,"Gore told executives at the Keidanren (Japanese BusinessFederation).

"When that changes, then U.S. policy will change," he said,urging the members of Keidanren to send the strongest possiblemessage to big business in the United States.

The United States withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol, whichmandates cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in the 2008-2012period, saying the agreement would be harmful to the U.S.economy.

As host of the 1997 talks that forged the protocol, theJapanese government has urged major polluters, including theUnited States, China and India, to work harder to combatclimate change, most recently during a visit by Prime MinisterShinzo Abe to Europe last week.

Japan's own emissions of greenhouse gases amounted to 1.36billion metric tons in the year to March 2006, up 0.6 percenton the previous year and 14.1 percent adrift of its objectiveto cut emissions to 6 percent below their 1990 levels.

But Gore said that corporate Japan had a special role toplay.

"The business leadership of Japan can lead the way and leadthe business community of the world," Gore said.

"Your determination to be a part of the solution can be thekey to the world successfully solving this crisis."

More than 330 U.S. cities have endorsed the Kyoto Protocol,in a sign of grassroots support for its aims, Gore said.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070117/pl_nm/gore_japan_climate_dc [link]