American actor Leonardo DiCaprio has been travelling by private planes and yachts powered by fossil fuels while his Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation was channelling grants to fund climate damage lawsuits against oil companies, Fox News reports. In 2014, DiCaprio made six round-trip flights on private jets in just six weeks, and in the same year he was named a UN “peace envoy” for his work on climate change.
Famous American actor and eco-activist Leonardo DiCaprio has travelled the world by private jet and taken long boat trips while his charity, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, tried to hold oil companies responsible for climate change through the courts, Fox News reported.
Over the past few years, DiCaprio has taken many trips using fossil fuels while pushing for extreme measures to combat climate change. The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, which the actor founded in the late 1990s, provided grants to the foundation, which in turn supported the efforts of a private law firm that worked to hold oil companies accountable.
“Everything they do is sheer hypocrisy. I would say they have no self-awareness, but they just don’t care. It’s all about controlling us, not about controlling themselves,” said former US Department of Energy official Steve Milloy.
In 2014, for example, DiCaprio made six round-trip flights on private jets in just six weeks. These flights from California to New York between April and May 2014 were arranged for the actor by Sony Pictures Studios. In the same year, DiCaprio was named a “Messenger of Peace” by the United Nations for his work on climate change.
In 2016 DiCaprio flew 13,000km in a private jet from Europe to New York to receive an award for his environmental work. He then returned to Europe for a charity event. The same year, the American flew in a private jet to the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he was awarded the Crystal Cup for his “leadership in the fight against climate crisis”.
DiCaprio is also often spotted on private yachts. In 2014, the actor travelled on a yacht belonging to the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to the FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Shortly afterwards, he criticised Brazil for its deforestation plans.
However, DiCaprio has continued to use his foundation in an attempt to push for a transition to clean energy and away from fossil fuels. After winning the Best Actor award at the 2016 Academy Awards, the actor took the opportunity to call from the stage for world leaders to take aggressive action on climate change.
“Climate change is real. It’s happening right now. It’s the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we have to work collectively together and stop procrastinating,” Fox News quoted the actor as saying.