DiCaprio warns of ‘climate threat’ in Oscars speech

Actor ramps up call for tougher efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, urges support for leaders who are not beholden to fossil fuel giants

By Ed King

Leonardo DiCaprio used his Oscar winning speech to urge world leaders to “stop procrastinating” and take a tougher line on climate change.

Awarded ‘Best Actor’ for his performance in The Revenant, DiCaprio spent two minutes thanking friends and colleagues before delivering an impassioned call to arms.

“Making The Revenant was about man’s relationship to the natural world, a world we collectively felt in 2015 as the hottest year in recorded history,” he said.

Report: DiCaprio slams ‘corporate greed’ of oil, gas and coal sector

“Climate change is real, it is happening right now it is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.

“We need to support leaders who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations but for all indigenous people in world, the under privileged, our children’s children and for those people whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of greed.”

To applause, DiCaprio, a UN climate envoy, added: “Let us not take this planet for granted.”

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