Energy Secretary Chris Wright said climate change is far from being one of the biggest problems the world is facing.
Wright’s remarks are the latest attempt from the Trump administration to downplay the risks of climate change, while also pressing European allies to follow its lead in rolling back numerous climate-related rules and regulations.
“There’s nothing remotely close to indicating climate change would even be in the top five global problems,” Wright said Tuesday morning during the North America Gas Forum, hosted by Energy Dialogues in Washington.
The secretary said climate change is a “real physical phenomenon” that will be dealt with “over time.” However, Wright emphasized that there are greater issues to be addressed first.
“It’s real, but it’s just not remotely close to cracking the top five list of global problems,” he said.
Wright later told the Washington Examiner that, in his view, the top five issues are malnutrition, a lack of clean cooking fuels, indoor air pollution, inadequate basic education, and inadequate public health.
“There’s just giant issues that massively move the needle,” Wright said. “Climate change isn’t remotely close.”
The Trump administration has argued that states and countries that prioritized policies focused on lowering greenhouse gas emissions and transitioning to cleaner sources of fuel have been hit with higher electricity prices and unstable grids.
President Donald Trump began to sideline climate-related initiatives on his first day in office, withdrawing the United States from the 2016 Paris Agreement for a second time.
Since then, his administration has taken a number of steps to soften emissions reduction rules imposed during the Biden administration, claiming that the regulations have hindered U.S. energy production.
Most recently, the Environmental Protection Agency delayed the Biden administration’s rule requiring oil and gas operations to use technology to detect and control methane leaks. Enforcement of the rule has been pushed by 18 months.
As the Trump administration looks to increase oil and gas production in the U.S. and boost exports of those products abroad, it is calling on European allies to lift emissions reduction policies that could curb those exports.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ESCALATES PRESSURE ON EUROPE TO WALK BACK CLIMATE POLICIES
While European officials have broadly remained steadfast and offered no indication that the environmental, social, and governance rules will be lifted, Wright said Tuesday that some European leaders have admitted it was a mistake to have focused so much on climate-related policies and phasing out fossil fuels in recent years.
“One of their biggest worries is, ‘We know what we did was wrong, the results have not worked out well. We’ve become dependent on Russia … we’re losing our jobs, our industrial jobs overseas, and our citizens are paying too much for energy. But boy, we invested a lot in this approach that got us here,’” Wright said, adding, “Energy policy should change and I think you’re going to hear a lot of that from European leaders.”
