The actor has been a long-time environmental activist, even starting his own foundation in 1998.
Leonardo DiCaprio has been a long-time activist for the environment, and he recently helped a climate fund raise $45 million to support sustainable products and shopping.
According to Forbes, Regeneration.VC closed $45 million in funding in March with the goal of making sustainable consumer good widespread. Dan Fishman, a general partner of the fund, told the publication this is an ideal way to make long-term change in society’s approach to consumerism.
“Direct-to-consumer is a great way to start a business,” Fishman explained. “But I’m a firm believer in omnichannel.”
Regerenation.VC credits its seven-figure funding to a variety of high-profile individuals, who have donated to the cause and used their platform to encourage others to do so, including DiCaprio and famous architect William McDonough.
“They both came on really early during our formation as strategic advisors,” Fishman said of the celebrity activists. “Leo has been a champion for climate emergency, and his community is a sounding board for many activities that have environmental benefits within the consumer sector.”
The climate fund has so far sealed six eco-friendly agriculture deals. This includes a partnership with Cruz Foam, which makes a Styrofoam alternative from shellfish waste, and CleanO2, which has technology to turn industrial emissions into fertilizers for the agriculture industry.
Regerenative.VC also signed a deal with Pangaia, a clothing brand that makes products from recycled material. Pangaia is looking to start a line of food products in the near future, starting with the development of a plant-based food bar.
DiCaprio has spent decades as a climate activist. According to Together Band, he was named the United Nations Messenger of Peace and Change in 2014. He’s also on the board of a variety of environmental groups, including World Wildlife Fund (WWF), International Fun for Animals Welfare, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
He also started The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998 when he was still relatively new to Hollywood. The charity supports a variety of conservation projects aimed at protecting key species and their ecosystems.
Additionally, DiCaprio has used his film projects to further his passion for environmentalism. In 2007, the actor lent his voice as a narrator to The Eleventh Hour, a conservation documentary that looked at the global environment.
He’s gone on to narrate and produce other documentaries of a similar nature, like Water Planet, Global Warning, and Ice and Fire.
More recently, when accepting his first Oscar in 2016 for The Revenant, DiCaprio used his speech to reveal the deeper meaning behind the film and highlight the need for environmental activism.
‘The Revenant was about man’s relationship to the natural world — the world that we collectively felt in 2015 as the hottest year in recorded history,” he stated.
“Our production had to move to the southernmost tip of this planet just to be able to find snow,” DiCaprio continued. “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.”
He finished his speech by giving a call to action to his fans, encouraging them to take steps to preserve the global ecosystem.
