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Leonardo DiCaprio says he's selling his fossil fuel investments to fight global warming as he attends NYC conference

Published: 12:16 EST, 22 September 2015 | Updated: 21:06 EST, 22 September 2015

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Leonardo DiCaprio is joining a campaign to use investment decisions to fight global warming: He's planning to shed his own investments in fossil fuels, an activist group announced Tuesday.

The star of The Wolf of Wall Street and Blood Diamond, 40, joined members of the Divest-Invest Coalition as it announced his plans and highlighted growth in such pledges during the past year.

DiCaprio plans to divest his own and his foundation's fossil fuel holdings, said Ellen Dorsey, a leader of the campaign and the executive director of the Wallace Global Fund, an environmental grantmaker.

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It's not easy being green: Leonardo DiCaprio attended the DivestInvest conference in New York City on Tuesday

The actor didn't speak at the New York City event, but posed for photos and was pictured sitting in the front row, listening intently to the speeches.

The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation was set up by the actor in 1998, and is focused on protecting animals and the environment.

Taking a page from the anti-apartheid movement on college campuses in the 1980s, students began pressing various colleges in 2011 to drop their holdings in the fossil fuel industry and increase their stake in renewable energy companies.

Getting on board: The actor is joining a campaign to use investment decisions to fight global warming

Doing his part: Leonardo is planning to sell his own investments in fossil fuels, the activist group announced

Suiting up: The 40-year-old looked very dapper at the event in a black suit and white shirt with no tie

Three years later, foundations, pension funds, insurers, state and local governments, universities and people worth a total of $2.6 trillion have pledged to reduce or eliminate their fossil fuel investments, the coalition said in a report released Tuesday.

Organizers estimate those fossil fuel holdings are three to eight percent of most of the institutions' portfolios, but they don't have an exact total.

But they're cheering the growth in the number and size of institutions signing on. The $2.6 trillion total is 50 times larger than it was last year, when activists set a goal of tripling it before the United Nations climate negotiations planned in Paris this December.

'Clearly, our movement is growing faster than expected,' said May Boeve, the executive director of 350.org, an anti-global-warming group.

He scrubs up well: After wrapping up work on The Revenant, Leo has ditched his bushy beard and man bun

Environmentally conscious: He set up The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998, which is focused on protecting animals and the environment

Taking a backseat: The Wolf Of Wall Street star didn't speak at the conference, but happily posed for pictures

The activists' goal is to put both pocketbook and social pressure on traditional energy companies, and some are taking note.

When power plant owner NRG announced last November that it planned to halve its carbon emissions by 2030 and cut them by 90 percent by 2050, CEO David Crane told The New York Times he was mindful of campus divestment activism.

But other energy producers have pushed back. The Independent Petroleum Association of America, for example, maintains divestment harms the institutions while making little difference on the targeted companies.

'Divestment is a bad policy based on a bad premise,' IPAA Senior Vice President Jeff Eshelman said in statement this month.

Making a change: Foundations, pension funds, insurers, state and local governments, universities and people worth a total of $2.6 trillion have pledged to reduce or eliminate their fossil fuel investments

Deep in thought: The Oscar nominee was spotted listening intently from the front row

Sharing the news: Leo plans to divest his own and his foundation's fossil fuel holdings, said Ellen Dorsey (R), a leader of the campaign and the executive director of the Wallace Global Fund, an environmental grantmaker