Trump's energy pick, Chris Wright, argues fossil fuels are key to ending global poverty

US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Energy Department believes fossil fuels are key to ending world poverty, which he says is a bigger issue than climate change’s “distant” threat, Reuters reported.

Trump’s choice to lead the US Energy Department Chris Wright penned a corporate report released in February called Bettering Human Lives.

The report was penned, while he was still the CEO of oilfield services company Liberty Energy. 

Wright said in the report that poverty can be alleviated by giving people more access to hydrocarbons. 

Wright had started a foundation aimed at expanding propane cookstoves in developing countries, Reuters said in its report. 

There have been concerns about Trump’s policies regarding energy and climate change.

The President-elect has been vocal about his support for the oil and gas industry in the US. 

Trump is also expected to roll back several climate regulations passed under the incumbent US President Joe Biden.

Wright’s appointment was thus seen as a step towards increasing oil and gas output in the US by experts. 

Wright’s appointment crucial for US oil and gas industry?

"The vibes will be better for the oil and gas industry," Morgan Bazilian, director of the Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines, told Reuters in an interview, adding the industry felt attacked by President Joe Biden's climate policies.

Brazilian also said that Wright is “a perfect example of this. He's been outspoken on how the oil and gas industry has brought security power and development to the United States, which is true. The other true thing is that global emissions aren't going down”. 

As the world tries to transition to using clean energy, the appointment of Wright could roll back the progress of the US in limiting carbon emissions. 

Experts have said that emissions from fossil fuels are the major reason for climate change. 

In the report, Wright said that carbon is essential for life, and pushed back on the treatment of carbon dioxide as a pollutant. 

Experts term Wright’s logic as absurd 

Reuters quoted Peter Reich, a climate scientist at the University of Michigan, as saying that Wright’s logic is “terrifyingly absurd”. 

“People and their pets and crops also need water," Reich told Reuters.

Reich said:

Wright in the report said that much of the world was losing perspective as they pushed misdirected efforts to achieve the social and political goal of appearing to “take action” against climate change. 

“Overheated rhetoric is epitomized by current UN head Antonio Guterres’ ‘code red for humanity’ and ‘global boiling’,” Wright said in the report. 

Additionally, he also mentioned in the report without evidence that the population of polar bears is rising. 

Charlotte Lindqvist, an expert at the University of Buffalo, told Reuters that polar bear populations are not increasing and the species is losing its sea ice habitats.

Wright says solar and wind energy insufficient

In the report, Wright said small modular nuclear, which is not yet commercialized, and geothermal can be alternatives to petroleum products. 

However, according to Reuters, he criticized solar and wind energy as insufficient. 

Bazilian told Reuters Wright’s views on solar and wind were outdated.  

He noted that the cost of carbon-free solar and wind has fallen dramatically and those sources can also address energy poverty, according to Reuters.