Climate change is a by-product of progress, not an existential crisis, says Trump’s energy czar: Chris Wright argues that most green energy policies bring only exclusion and scarcity

Nearly every aspect of modern life depends upon energy. It fuels opportunity, lifts people out of poverty and saves lives. That is why, as a lifelong energy entrepreneur and as us Secretary of Energy, I am honoured to advance President Donald Trump’s policy of bettering lives through unleashing a golden age of energy dominance—both at home and around the world.

Over the past two centuries, two forces dramatically transformed the human condition: the rise of bottom-up social organisation—human liberty—and the explosion in the supply of affordable energy. The result has been a doubling in life expectancy. In the same period, extreme poverty has plummeted from affecting 90% of the world’s population to under 10%. Energy and human liberty matter.

The world needs more energy—in particular, more American energy. The growth of American energy production is a win for our citizens, for our geopolitical standing and for our allies. We need energy that is affordable, reliable and secure.

This administration is focused on energy addition, not subtraction—a complete reversal from the previous four years. By the time President Trump took office for his second term, American energy had become more uncertain, more expensive and less reliable. One in five American households was struggling to pay its energy bills. Half of the electric grid faced the risk of blackouts.

In the name of a single risk—climate change—the Biden administration launched a regulatory assault aimed at eliminating hydrocarbons in favour of so-called renewables. The results were predictable.

By targeting our most reliable fuels, the previous administration restricted energy production and blocked critical-infrastructure projects like natural-gas pipelines. This resulted in higher energy prices and inflation, driving up costs for everything from gasoline to groceries. It weakened the resilience of the electric grid. It also made American manufacturing more expensive and uncertain, risking an exodus of businesses—meaning lost jobs and a shrinking tax base.

Was this damage at least offset by progress with Joe Biden’s promise to green the economy? In short, no. Hydrocarbons made up 82% of American primary energy consumption in 2024, nearly the same as in 2019. Hydrocarbons are proving extremely difficult to replace.

Urgent, politically charged proclamations to alter national energy systems have consistently proven disastrous. In Europe, as well as in America under President Biden, climate zealotry has overtaken energy reality. The result is crushingly high energy prices, deindustrialisation and diminished life opportunities for citizens.

In Britain—the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution—the last remaining virgin-steel plant has been threatened with closure. By narrowly focusing on climate targets and transforming only the electricity sector, Britain has driven away nearly all heavy manufacturing.

One of the most damaging misconceptions in policymaking is the idea that the energy sector is synonymous with the electricity sector. Electricity accounts for just one-fifth of global primary energy consumption. Covering the landscape with wind turbines cannot completely decarbonise the economy.

Furthermore, it is impossible to build a wind turbine or a solar panel—or manufacture steel or cement—without hydrocarbons. Industrial processes require intense heat that electricity cannot provide.

Like all modern economies, Britain consumes steel. However, its climate policy has caused steelmaking, which once thrived in the country, to move to coal-fired plants in countries like India and China, with production shipped back to Britain on diesel-powered vessels. As well as doing nothing to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, this undermines Britain’s national security, industrial independence and economic stability. Britons continue to pay among the highest residential-electricity rates in the world—all while depending more on authoritarian regimes like China.

That’s not a climate policy. And it’s certainly not an energy policy. It is proof there is no such thing as clean or dirty energy. All energy sources have trade-offs and these should be holistically evaluated.

America is taking a different path—one focused on growth. We are expanding our supply of reliable energy, delivering more secure energy to Americans more cheaply. This approach enables the reshoring and domestic expansion of energy-intensive manufacturing: steel, semiconductors, fertiliser, cement and more. And it is positioning America to lead the next major energy-intensive frontier: artificial intelligence (AI).

AI transforms electricity into the most valuable output imaginable: intelligence. The country that wins the global race for AI leadership will shape the future of innovation, economic productivity and national defence. Dominating AI will require not only world-class scientific expertise, but enormous, continuous amounts of power. The Department of Energy is partnering with the private sector to ensure America leads this transformation. Under President Trump, we are refocused on building the 24/7 baseload capacity to meet the demands of the AI era.

We are accelerating the production of all baseload resources—coal, nuclear, geothermal and, of course, natural gas. Natural gas alone supplies over 40% of American electricity and 25% of global primary energy. It heats more American homes than any other fuel, anchors the booming petrochemical industry and remains the dominant source of industrial heat for manufacturing.

We will treat climate change as what it is: not an existential crisis but a real, physical phenomenon that is a by-product of progress. Yes, atmospheric CO2 has increased over time—but so has life expectancy. Billions of people have been lifted out of poverty. Modern medicine, telecommunications and global transportation became possible. I am willing to take the modest negative trade-off for this legacy of human advancement.

The world stands at an energy crossroads and it is time to choose. Do we want an energy policy of exclusion and scarcity that shackles humanity and limits economic potential? Or do we want a policy of inclusion and abundance, bursting all limits to growth and opportunity?

America has made its choice in favour of more energy, more manufacturing and more economic activity. We invite others to do the same.