MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Former Vice President Al Gore sharply condemned critics of global warming, in an interview Tuesday with Cuatro, a television channel in Spain and a CNN affiliate.

"They've lost the argument and they don't want to stop dumping all this pollution into the Earth's atmosphere," Gore said in a short interview. "The only thing they have left is cash and now they're offering cash for so-called skeptics who will try to confuse people about what the science really say. But it's unethical because now the time has come when we have to act. And it's always easier to pretend that a big problem does not exist, because then you have no moral obligation to solve it. But our responsibility to our children and those who come after is sacred and we must discharge our responsibility. And the good news is the changes we need to make are ones that will improve the quality of life. They're things that we should be doing anyway."

Gore was the Democratic nominee in the 2000 presidential election. His film, "An Inconvenient Truth," is nominated for an Oscar in the "Best Documentary" category.

Editor's Note:

In an earlier version of this story, former Vice President Al Gore is quoted responding to a question asked by Cuatro, a television channel in Spain and a CNN affiliate, about a recent report in a London newspaper that payments were being made to scientists to dispute the issue of global warming. Gore responded to a question that incorrectly implied the Bush administration was making payments to scientists to debunk global warming. The Cuatro interviewer should have noted the Guardian Newspaper alleged that the American Enterprise Institute -- a Washington, DC-based think tank -- was offering to pay economists and scientists to dispute a United Nations report on global warming. AEI acknowledges soliciting authors to examine both the "strengths and weaknesses" of the report and did offer an honoraria of $10,000. Gore did answer the question as posed by the Cuatro interviewer.