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Woohoo! Leonardo DiCaprio announced that the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation will award $20 million in grants to more than 100 environmental organizations that focus on a variety of causes, including combating Climate change, indigenous rights, and wildlife and habit Conservation. The move will increase the foundation’s total financial impact to more than $80 million since 1998.

The newly announced financial assistance is Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation’s “largest-ever portfolio of environmental grants,” the organization’s website states. The grants will Support the work of the foundation’s partners all around the world and will go to groups ranging from major environmental organizations to local partners protecting vital ecosystems, threatened species, and at-risk communities.

The grants were announced by DiCaprio during a Climate change conference at Yale University. “We are proud to Support the work of over 100 organizations at home and abroad,” he said. “These grantees are active on the ground, protecting our oceans, forests and endangered species for future generations – and tackling the urgent, existential challenges of Climate change.”

Terry Tamminen, CEO of the foundation, pointed out that the grants come at a critical time. “With a lack of political leadership, and continued evidence that Climate change is growing worse with record-breaking heatwaves and storms, we believe we need to do as much as we can now, before it is too late,” Tamminen said.

During his conference, DiCaprio also pushed for urgent action for a global shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy, reminding that “there exist today many proven technologies in renewable energy, clean transportation, and sustainable agriculture, that we can begin to build a brighter future for all of us.”

“Our challenge is to find new ways to power our lives, employ millions of people and turn every individual into an advocate for clean air and drinkable water,” DiCaprio went on to say. “We must demand that politicians accept climate science and make bold commitments before it is too late.”

To learn more about Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, click here.

Image source: John Hassett via Leonardo DiCaprio/Instagram