NEW YORK—Former Vice President Al Gore thinks that financial markets are to blame for environmental problems.

Gore, speaking at a Cornell University-sponsored roundtable in New York City on Wednesday (June 3), told the audience that the "tyranny of short-term horizons” forced companies to maximize returns on a short-term quarterly basis. This, the panelists said, undermined long-term progress in combating environmental ills, such as global warming.

This "tyranny of short-term horizons is not limited to investing but also to politics," said Gore. But the Obama administration has an opportunity to lead the world, he said, especially at the forthcoming United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen. And if the cap-and-trade bill to tax carbon passes in Congress this year, it would help create a "global framework" to bring China into a global agreement on regulating carbon, he said.

Gore’s comments came in response to--and echoed sentiments expressed by--Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group, a multi-national conglomerate that promotes itself as environmentally conscious.

Despite decrying the financial markets, both Tata and Gore have direct financial interests in advancing global warming alarmism and promoting environmental technologies.

The Tata group recently unveiled its “green” Nano car, a small car funded in large part by government subsidies. And, in 2008, Gore admitted to having a direct financial interest in a number of green investments.

The conference was organized by the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise at Cornell University's Johnson School of Business Management. Cornell, like other Ivy League Universities, is heavily invested in the financial markets, including Hedged Equities, Real Assets and foreign equities.