Leonardo DiCaprio has announced he will be giving $20m to climate change charities and took a swipe at Donald Trump in the process.

The philanthropic actor will distribute the money through his foundation to nearly 100 environmental organisations.

The Titanic and Revenant star made the announcement at the Yale Climate Conference in New Haven, Connecticut, part of slew of events during New York Climate Week and the United Nations General Assembly.

He revealed he had met with the US president before Mr Trump took office in order to present a plan to combat climate change.

“We talked about how the United States has the potential to lead the world in clean energy manufacturing, and research and development," he recalled. "In fact, with the commitment of the Paris climate agreement, it could be the largest domestic opportunity in all of American history. All we need is the political will to see it happen.”

Mr Trump claimed the Paris Agreement was "unfair" to the American worker, focusing on steel, coal, and manufacturing sectors. However, the plan DiCaprio presented - as well as part of the basis for his future contributions - focused on "harnessing the economic potential of green jobs."

10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke – filled with the carbon that is driving climate change – drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. “Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals,” says the photographer. “Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow.” Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a “public health emergency”. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan

In June, the President announced he would withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement on climate change, a global accord signed by nearly 200 countries in an effort to reduce greenhouse gases, contain global warming, and help poorer countries adapt to an already-changed planet.

In a dig at Mr Trump, DiCaprio commented that though the President appears undeterred on the topic in light of the devastation caused by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, he still believes the US has "the potential to lead the world on this issue...We can only hope that the President begins to see it too, before it is too late.”

Greenpeace activists unfurl banner at Chicago's Trump Tower targeting Trump's climate change stance

DiCaprio called the Trump administration's stance on the environment "willful ignorance," even with "the independent scientific warnings, and the mounting economic price tag."

Scientists have agreed that the emissions targets outlined in the Paris accord likely will not be sufficient to limit global warming to the optimal 1.5 degrees Celsius, but that the deal was an important step towards world governments doing so.

DiCaprio has been involved in climate change activism since at least 1998 and recently directed a documentary called Before the Flood about the impacts of pollution.

The actor's foundation has already made nearly $80 million in grants towards assisting organisations working on various efforts to combat climate change around the world since 2008 as well.