Oscar-winning actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio is investing in a planned eco-certified hotel in Herzliya, Israel, according to several media reports in the country.
The hotel, located in the Herzliya Marina, will be designed by David Rockwell and will include 180 suites spread across two six-storey buildings, with a swimming pool in between.
The project is being overseen by Hagag Real Estate Development, with DiCaprio named as a partner in the project, responsible for its promotion and ensuring that it's constructed in compliance with the US Green Building Council’s LEED criteria.
“Green environmental development is a significant part of building communities that work in partnership with nature and not against it,” DiCaprio said in a statement. “As we seek to create a future that heads off the most severe effects of climate change, we need projects that push for new developments in environmental design.
"This project, which meets the gold standard of LEED, will serve as a model for environmentally friendly hotel development for the entire world.”
This is not the first eco-friendly leisure development the actor has supported. He is also involved in the development of an eco-resort on his private island in Belize,
in partnership with wellness real estate firm Delos and architects McLennan Design and Denniston International. In 2013, the actor purchased a multi-million dollar unit in Greenwich Village, New York, US, boasting more than 50 wellness and health features and designed by wellness property developers Delos Living.
In April 2016 he argued that the signing of the landmark Paris Agreement to tackle global warming “was just the beginning” in the drive to avoid “the catastrophic impacts” of rising temperatures. He outlined five principles to limit climate change further: reducing and pricing carbon emissions, accelerating the transition to renewable energy, protecting vital ecosystems, taking aggressive short-term action and making our cities global models for sustainability.
