United States: Who is Chris Wright, a climate skeptic nominated for Secretary of Energy ?

Donald Trump announced the appointment of Chris Wright as Energy Secretary. CEO of major energy companies, he is an outspoken climate sceptic who has ;eacute;refute the climate crisis.

In the middle of COP 29, Donald Trump made a choice that goes against the ecological transition in the energy sector. On Saturday, November 16, he appointed Chris Wright as Secretary of Energy. This position is particularly important given that climate change is a given and that the United States is the second largest energy consumer in the world (behind China), with 15.3% of global primary energy consumption in 2019, according to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA). But here it is, Chris Wright does not believe in climate change, just like Donald Trump, he is an avowed climate skeptic.

“As Secretary of Energy, Chris will be a key leader, driving innovation, reducing red tape, and ushering in a new golden age of American prosperity and global peace,” the president-elect said in a statement. Chris Wright will also serve as a member of the newly created National Energy Council (NEC), which was created announced Friday by the president-elect, whose mission will be to “oversee the path to U.S. energy dominance.”

CEO of several companies in the energy sector

Christ Wright has a distinguished background in the energy sector. With the companies he created and managed, he supported several energy production projects, each more polluting than the last. A graduate of MIT and UC Berkeley, he founded Pinnacle Technologies in 1992, which helped launch commercial shale gas production and mapped hydraulic fractures. These allow the extraction of this gas, which releases significant quantities of methane into the atmosphere. This greenhouse gas has a much more powerful warming power than carbon dioxide.

He then chaired Stroud Energy, which is one of the first producers of shale gas. Today, he is the CEO of Liberty Energy, which he created in 2011, specialized in hydraulic fracturing.

A self-confessed climate skeptic

For Chris Wright, “there is no climate crisis and we are not in the midst of an energy transition,” he writes on his LinkedIn account. “The term carbon pollution is outrageous,” he also assures, believing that all life depends on carbon dioxide. He is also convinced that there is no “clean energy or dirty energy; all energy sources have both positive and negative impacts on the world.” As the Financial Times points out, the businessman's candidacy was supported by companies in the oil sector.

In his statement, Donald Trump congratulated his newly appointed friend: “Chris was one of the pioneers who helped launch the American shale revolution that fueled American energy independence and transformed global energy markets and geopolitics.” Enough to convince climate skeptics. A 2023 Yale University study found that 16% of Americans did not believe in climate change, which is about 49 million people. The consequences of this climate change are still being felt in several regions, including the United States, with increasingly strong hurricanes, such as Milton recently, and fires that ravage cities and nature every year.