New | Leonardo DiCaprio says China can be ‘climate change hero’ as he visits Beijing to promote The Revenant

Leonardo DiCaprio on Sunday praised China’s work to combat climate change, saying he believed the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases could be “the hero of the environmental movement”.

The actor and environmentalist, who called for action to combat climate change during his Oscar acceptance speech last month, praised China’s shift towards renewable forms of energy to lower carbon emissions.

“As we all know, the United States and China are the two biggest contributors, and I think that China has made radical movements forward as far as alternative energy and ways to be sustainable,” DiCaprio said at a news conference in Beijing.

“I really think that China can be the hero of the environmental movement, they can be the hero of the climate change movement. They have an opportunity to change the world and I have all the confidence in the world that that is their intention.”

DiCaprio was in Beijing to promote The Revenant, which won him his first Oscar, for best actor, at this year’s ceremony.