After building a name for himself in the world of climate activism, the Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio has been called “eco-hypocrite” following paparazzi photos which caught him on a super-polluting yacht, believed to emit around 238kg of CO2 per mile — the same amount as an average car would produce in two months.
1. Vava II superyacht
The Titanic star was spotted on a €131.9 million superyacht, a six-deck floating infrastructure with its own helipad, the British outlet the Mirror reported. The Vava II superyacht — the largest yacht to be manufactured in Britain — is owned by Swiss pharmaceutical billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli. According to the manufacturer, the yacht can accommodate 22 guests and 30 crew and has a range of 5,700 miles when its tanks are fully laden with 115,000 gallons of diesel.
Refuelling such a beast costs a boastful €300,000, certainly a modest amount for the elite crowd. Still, critics have not spared controversial comments, criticising the American actor who starred in the recent Netflix movie Don’t Look Up, featuring an apocalyptic comedy which the movie’s directors say is a metaphor for climate change.
Years ago, scientists predicted the damaging effects of climate change that we’re now experiencing. We must listen to scientists and take the necessary steps to mitigate the crisis.
wrote DiCaprio on Twitter, commenting on his latest movie.
2. Climate Change Ambassador
The pouring critics weren’t really related to his fictional roles when filming movies in the big screen. In 2014, DiCaprio was appointed as a United Nations (UN) representative on climate change. At the time, the then UN Secretary General Ban-ki-Moon said the actor’s global stardom was “the perfect match“ for the global challenge posed by climate change.
“Here’s UN Climate Change ambassador Leonardo DiCaprio aboard a 315ft, £110 million superyacht, complete with a helipad and six decks that spew out as much as your average car does in a year by sailing as little as 7 miles,” said Darren Grimes of the UK’s GB News.
Joining forces with Grimes, the Sunday’s Abul Taher branded DiCaprio an “eco hypocrite”, stating: “He is a celebrity UN climate change ambassador who has called the issue ‘the most urgent threat facing our entire species’. But while he urges fans to take action, Leonardo DiCaprio has been spending time on one of the world’s biggest, and most environmentally unfriendly, superyachts.”
3. Dicaprio’s environmental efforts
Despite the criticism, the Hollywood star has reportedly disbursed generous contributions to the environmental cause. Since his “role” as an Environmentalist, DiCaprio is said to have funnelled €89 million, of his €239 million, fortune into a global conservation project to protect endangered species and land from developers.
