In Case You Missed It: Secretary Wright authored a piece for The Economist on the world's need for more energy—in particular, more American energy.
July 14, 2025
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Chris Wright
Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy
Chris Wright is the 17th Secretary for the U.S. Department of Energy. A self-described energy nerd turned entrepreneur, Chris is a dedicated humanitarian with a passion for bringing the benefits of energy to every community in the world. This passion has inspired a career in energy, working not only in oil and gas but nuclear, solar, and geothermal. As Secretary of Energy, Chris is focused on unleashing American energy dominance, accelerating innovation and advancing all energy sources that are affordable, reliable and secure for the American people.
Chris completed an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering at MIT and graduate work in Electrical Engineering at UC Berkeley and MIT. He founded Pinnacle Technologies and served as CEO from 1992 to 2006. Pinnacle created the hydraulic fracture mapping industry, and its innovations helped launch commercial shale gas production in the late 1990s. Chris was Chairman of Stroud Energy, an early shale gas producer, before selling to Range Resources in 2006. Most recently, Chris served as Chairman and CEO of Liberty Energy, where his team helped to expand the shale revolution to include oil as well as natural gas. Chris has also participated in an effort to apply shale technology to unlock next-generation geothermal and helped to launch small modular reactors.
Chris was nominated by President Trump to serve as the 17th Secretary of Energy on November 16, 2024 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on February 3rd, 2025. He grew up in Colorado and currently lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Liz. He is a passionate father, grandfather, skier, cyclist, climber, and outdoor enthusiast.
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July 14, 2025
"Climate change is a by-product of progress, not an existential crisis, says Trump’s energy czar"
By Chris Wright, Secretary of Energy
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, American energy had become more uncertain, more expensive and less reliable. One in five American households were struggling to pay their 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.
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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.
. . .
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.
. . .
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 byproduct 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.
Read the full article here.
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