Leo's Unlikely Environmental 'Hero': China

Leonardo DiCaprio has seen the potential "hero of the environmental movement," and it is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases—China—he said Sunday while promoting The Revenant in Beijing. The actor and environmentalist, who called for action to combat climate change during his Oscar acceptance speech last month, praised China's shift toward 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," he said, according to the AP.

"I really think that China can be the hero of the environmental movement, they can be the hero of the climate change movement," he said. "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 and was released in mainland China on Friday; it has already earned $15 million at the Chinese box office. DiCaprio, who has made several trips to China in the past, is affectionately called Xiao Li, or Little Lee, by Chinese. China is the world's largest coal user and producer, but has also become a leading investor in renewable forms of energy, such as solar and wind power. (More Leonardo DiCaprio stories.)