Gore proved at AsiaD that he's no "tree-hugger" stereotype, but rather a studied professional who believes in "sustainable capitalism." He acknowledged that while IT now contributes 2% of carbon emissions globally, the IT sector's efforts to offset its unfortunate contribution is "impressive." He criticized the "immoral and unethical" naysayers in the USA (likening them to "[a] massive disinformation campaign--reminiscent of the tobacco industry in the 1950s telling us that smoking didn't cause cancer," and praised the Australian government for its recently enacted carbon tax. While Gore acknowledged that an outright carbon tax was the best approach ("we can't keep pretending there's zero-value to treating our atmosphere like an open sewer"), he also praised India's recent tax on coal and China's cap-and-trade scheme.

The former US VP suggested that if the financial incentives were there, production of solar-energy-production equipment could follow an iPad-like adoption curve. He praised Hong Kong's "entrepreneurship and digital innovation," but said he felt the "dynamism and professionalism of the digital revolution is still in its early stages." However, although Gore said that the Internet has changed and will continue to change the worldwide political landscape, he noted that television (including streaming-video on the Net) is still dominant. "Perhaps it will change with new generations, with the young people, but TV is still the 'Big Kahuna'...there's an urgent challenge to find high-quality journalism."