WASHINGTON - Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore said he was honored to share the Nobel Peace Prize with the U.N. climate panel on Friday for their work on global warming and said climate change is a moral, not a political, issue.

"We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity. It is also our greatest opportunity to lift global consciousness to a higher level," he said in a statement.

"I am deeply honored to receive the Nobel Peace Prize," he said.

"This award is even more meaningful because I have the honor of sharing it with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- the world's preeminent scientific body devoted to improving our understanding of the climate crisis -- a group whose members have worked tirelessly and selflessly for many years."

Gore also said he would donate all of his share of the proceeds.

"My wife, Tipper, and I will donate 100 percent of the proceeds of the award to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan non-profit organization that is devoted to changing public opinion in the U.S. and around the world about the urgency of solving the climate crisis."

The Alliance for Climate Protection is the nonprofit group Gore founded last year to raise public awareness of climate change.