DUBAI, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Veteran Hollywood actor and director Robert De Niro praised on Sunday the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) for fighting the global warming, while criticizing the U.S. government for pulling out of the Paris climate agreement.

De Niro made the comments at the 2018 World Government Summit on climate change, saying the UAE is the first Arab country which signed, and later ratified, the Paris agreement in November 2016, with the aim to limit the temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

The UAE has pledged to generate 50 percent of its domestic energy needs from renewable energy sources by 2050.

De Niro, renowned for his lead characters in blockbuster films like Raging Bull (1980) and Goodfellas (1990), added that "the situation in my country is not helping."

He said his country, the biggest economy in the world, is causing a "lasting damage to our planet," due to the arrogance under President Donald Trump, who decided to withdraw from the Paris agreement in June, 2017.

On the prospects for the U.S. role in fighting global warming, the 74-year old Hollywood veteran remained optimistic for the long-term.

"We are in a different time in this world now ... But we will fix that eventually," he said.