Politicians who deny climate change are unfit to serve, actor Leonardo DiCaprio said at a White House event Monday alongside President Barack Obama.

"The scientific consensus is in and the argument is now over," the Academy Award-winning actor said during a discussion during the White House's South by South Lawn event. "If you do not believe in climate change, you do not believe in facts, or in science or empirical truths and therefore, in my humble opinion, should not be allowed to hold public office."

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DiCaprio did not specifically mention Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump or name any other politicians. He spoke ahead of the premiere of his new climate documentary, "Before the Flood."

Obama declared himself "proud" of his administration's efforts on climate change, and defended EPA's rules to limit carbon emissions from power plants.

DiCaprio said most scientists he spoke with in making the documentary favored a carbon tax, but acknowledged that policy "needs to come from the will of the people." Obama acknowledged that the current political climate meant "the likelihood of an immediate carbon tax is a ways away."

The president also touted the international climate agreement reached in Paris last year, in which countries around the world agreed for the first-time to drive down their carbon emissions.

The Paris agreement is set to take effect "in the next few weeks ... much faster than any of us first anticipated," Obama said, adding that he also hoped to complete separate international agreements to limit international aviation emissions and another to drive down short-lived climate pollutants before leaving office.