Former Vice President Al Gore says he believes President Barack Obama will attend the December climate talks in Copenhagen to emphasize his administration's commitment to safeguarding the environment.

In an interview Tuesday on ABC's "Good Morning America," Gore said that while he had not spoken to Obama about the global talks, "I feel certain he will" attend.

The Copenhagen talks are aimed at negotiating a follow-on agreement to the Kyoto Protocol, which required 37 industrial nations to cut carbon emissions by an average 5 percent from 1990 levels by 2012, when the accord expires. The U.S. rejected Kyoto as unfair and harmful to the U.S. economy, even though Gore was one of the negotiators.