Robert Redford has spoken out against the “absurdity of subsidising fossil fuels” in the run up to Rio+20, the UN’s conference on sustainable living in Rio de Janeiro this week.

Writing on the Huffington Post yesterday, the star of such films as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President’s Men railed against “public handouts” to oil and gas firms which amount to “almost one trillion dollars of subsidies” around the world.

The self-proclaimed environmental activist wrote: “In a time of economic hardship, progressing climate change and a growing demand for reliable and clean sources of energy, using taxpayer money to help oil, gas and mining companies represent a reckless and irrational use of taxpayer money and government investment. We can do better.”

He included a plea to world leaders gathering in Rio twenty years after the first Earth Summit to “commit to real timetables and actions for fighting climate change, including ending fossil fuel subsidies.”