They certainly made an odd couple.

Clive Palmer, a businessman made rich by coal, and Al Gore, a global warming missionary, cosied up on stage to announce Palmer’s apparent conversion on climate change. Jaws dropped. Journalists panicked. What on earth had happened? And which man had made a fool of the other?

The mainstream media has portrayed this in two ways. One: Gore jetted into Canberra, convinced Palmer that climate change was real and caused by humans, so Palmer converted on the spot (cue Fairfax). The other version of events is that Palmer duped Gore into greenwashing his announcement, which actually amounts to an anti-environment hoax (cue Australian).

Neither is correct. Here’s how the bromance actually came about.

Some senior figures in the environment movement have long been nutting out how best to get to Palmer, given his senators will have the final say on the Coalition’s climate plans as of next week. This plays into a split among conservationists about whether it’s better to work with powerful political figures, to meet and negotiate — or to take a more aggressive approach and declare war on climate sceptics.

The Australian Conservation Foundation has been working out how to get access to Palmer for some time. It was the ACF that brought Gore to Australia this week — he’s here to train 500 people to communicate effectively on climate change. It’s been planned for months. That seminar is taking place in Melbourne today, and yes, Gore is there. Crikey went along.

It was figures associated with ACF who brokered yesterday’s meeting with Palmer. You’ll notice Don Henry in this pic from the ABC. Former Greens adviser Ben Oquist, who now works for The Australia Institute, was also hanging around.

Why did Palmer agree to meet Gore? Well, the media likes to portray the Palmer United Party as Clive’s fiefdom and his three senators as puppets. That might suit Clive, but it’s not necessarily that simple.

Queensland PUP Senator-elect Glenn Lazarus — the “brick with eyes” — has been open to hearing more about climate change and renewable energy (it was Lazarus who introduced Palmer and Gore at their joint press conference last night, and Lazarus is the PUP’s Senate leader).

And Western Australian PUP Senator-elect Dio Wang has been keen to boost renewable energy. He has made some efforts to shift the PUP’s policy towards being more pro-renewables.

Add to this the recent and significant shift in position from the United States; President Barack Obama has moved to limit emissions from coal-fired power stations. And PUP senators have just taken a study tour to the US.

So there may have been interesting discussions in the PUP party room about whether it was time to think again about the PUP’s previous indifference to action on climate change (before yesterday, Palmer had never demonstrated much interest in climate change, and he has long been hostile to the carbon tax).

Palmer portrayed yesterday’s policy shift as a personal “road to Damascus” moment inspired by Gore. This is what Palmer said:

“Vice-President Gore is a great leader and he has certainly convinced me of the need for the whole world to work together. The world is constantly changing, and our ability to adapt to change and to keep an open mind on issues which affect all of us is what really matters. United States President Barrack Obama has recently shown great leadership on this issue.”

And this is what he tweeted: “Thrilled @algore came to Canberra to meet with me & discuss key issues facing the world.”

But PUP’s work to change policy on climate change had begun before that meeting with Gore.

Team Gore is well aware of the risk in backing Palmer — being seen to “sup with the devil”. Palmer is an erratic figure, as Bernard Keane writes in Crikey today. He may not stick with what he announced. He may have been using Gore to greenwash himself. Palmer’s ETS proposal may go nowhere. Gore knows all this.

But some within the conservation movement took the view that the risk was worth it; and if Palmer does follow through on his promise to save the RET, the CEFC and the CCA, those are significant wins for environmentalists. Gore is used to copping flak and tends to crash through it.

Gore showed no regrets this morning when he addressed the ACF training session in Melbourne. Greeted with a standing ovation, Gore was every inch the celebrity motivational speaker as he held the floor for hours. The gum-chewing former veep stripped off his shirt jacket as what appeared to be a few bodyguards lurked off to the side. The backdrop to the podium was a wooden wall with hanging plants.

Gore emphasised the message that those who want emissions reduced should never give up. He said the political struggle would continue in countries like Australia and the US.

“There may not be a single decision point,” Gore said, adding that there would however be crucial periods where decisions were made — and in Australia, “we’re in one right now”.

“Interesting times here in Australia,” he said.

Referring to climate policy, he said “Australia has been one of the leaders in the world,” but these policies “are in flux now”.

He seemed to take heart from meeting with Palmer with this comment: “The force of conscience … has been reasserted here.”

And a “force of conscience” is just how Clive Palmer wants to be seen. Time will tell if Gore comes to rue the day he was lured into a bromance with Clive.