Former US vice president Al Gore is taking on a new role as he joins forces with a Silicon Valley venture capital firm to invest in green business and eco-friendly technology.

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers said on Monday it will partner with Gore to focus on alternative energy investments. Gore, an active climate campaigner and recent co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is joining the Kleiner board as part of a collaboration between his Generation Investment Management fund and Kleiner Perkins to fund green business, technology and policies that address global climate change.

Kleiner has funded alternative energy companies in the past. Among its notable startup investments were those in Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ:JAVA) , Compaq Computer , Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG).

The Menlo Park venture capital firm partner John Doerr will sit on the advisory board of Generation Investment Management, the investment management research firm Gore formed in 2004 with Goldman Sachs Group banker David Blood.

Today marks a turning point for climate entrepreneurs around the world, Doerr said in a statement. Generation and our new partner Al Gore will help innovators and entrepreneurs accelerate their business, technology and policy solutions for the most critical problem of our time.

Gore will donate 100 percent of his salary as a partner at Kleiner Perkins to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a non-political foundation where he is currently the chairman.

Since leaving government in 2001, Gore has played an active role in advising top Silicon Valley companies. He currently leads the Emmy-winning and San Francisco-based Current TV alongside businessman Joel Hyatt. Current TV is a cable studio now broadcasting to more than 30 million U.S. households. Gore is on the board of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and is a senior adviser to Google (NASDAQ:GOOG).

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