Al Gore is in Brazil this week, and attended an event at the Federação das Indústrias do Estado de São Paulo (the Sao Paulo Industrial Federation), where he gave a speech and discussed environmental conservation.

While he stressed the issues of deforestation and conservation efforts, he was rightfully extremely careful to refer directly to environmental policy in Brazil, and apparently walked on eggshells, refusing to give an outright opinion on the Brazilian perspective. “If I was Brazilian, I’d discuss it, but I’m not, so I won’t,” he allegedly said.

He also apologized for discussing emissions, since the U.S. has higher carbon emissions than Brazil does, though he said he was optimistic about environmental policy change in the U.S.  He also congratulated Brazil on the successful ethanol industry, which has the highest profits of any ethanol industry in the world.

At the end of the event, he was given an award by his hosts.