President-elect Barack Obama says former Vice President Al Gore's ideas on the environment would be key to helping the nation's struggling economy recovery.
Obama, Gore and Vice President-elect Joe Biden met privately at Obama's transition headquarters in Chicago for almost two hours on Tuesday. The trio invited reporters and photographers to a brief photo-op at the end of the closed-door meeting.
Obama says so-called green jobs could help the economy and create jobs across the country. He described global warming as not only a problem, but an opportunity.
Aides say a job offer for Gore to join Obama's administration was not part of the discussion.
Gore sought the presidency in 2000 but lost to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush in a disputed election that was settled in the Supreme Court.
He then became a leader in the movement to draw attention to the issue of climate change and global warming. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, and his documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" won an Academy Award the same year.
Obama has pledged to use part of his proposed economic stimulus package to develop alternative energies and "green" technologies. Obama's aides said the private meeting would help shape the president-elect's economic policies.
The former vice president endorsed Obama in June, shortly after he clinched the nomination after a long primary battle with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Gore was vice president under President Bill Clinton.