by Adam Burnett on DeSmog
President Donald Trump’s energy secretary dismissed the threat of rising temperatures at a fossil fuel industry-funded event in London, even as millions endure record-breaking heatwaves in the UK, France, Spain and Italy.
Chris WrightA billionaire former oil and gas executive, appeared via video link Alliance for Responsible citizenship (ARC) conference, an assembly Transatlantic right-wing activists.
as Published by DeSmog Last week, ARC was funded by oil and gas investors and donors to President Donald Trump’s Republican Party.
In his remarks, Wright praised energy from fossil fuels as good for the economy and society at large.
“There are always more people dying in the winter than in the summer,” Wright said, citing excess deaths across Europe due to high energy prices following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, “because cold is a much bigger killer than heat.”
Wright called on the UK to “change course” and move away from fossil fuels and called climate change a “slow phenomenon” that would be solved through technology.
Experts have been saying this for years Technology While it can play a role in reducing CO2 levels in the atmosphere, it cannot replace fossil fuel use.
Reform UK the leader Nigel Farage and leader of the Conservative Party Kimi Badenoch Speakers are also on the schedule for the three-day ARC conference. Both scrap the UK’s landmark climate change legislation and call for new North Sea oil drilling.
The UK is currently watching Record-breaking Temperature as part of heat wave across Europe. at least 15 people died The hot weather in the UK last month saw water-related incidents and the Met Office reported issued An extreme heat warning for June, when temperatures can reach 39 °C (102.2 °F).
Multiple news outlets are reporting that since Thursday, at least 40 people in France have drowned to escape the extreme temperatures. The New York Times Tuesday reported that highs could reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) this week in Paris and 43 degrees Celsius (about 109 degrees Fahrenheit) in central France.
Experts agree that heat waves Created more possibilities by the climate crisis. Before joining Trump’s cabinet in 2025, Wright was CEO of fracking services company Liberty Energy.
According to its 2024 tax filingWright was also its director Western Energy Alliance (WEA)A trade group representing More than 300 companies In the oil and gas industry. WEA has historically lobbying Against oil and gas industry restrictions.
The Trump administration is the most anti-climate and Pro-fossil fuels Govt In recent US history, climate denial has spread, blocking renewable energy and increasing oil and gas extraction.
Donated by oil and gas companies $25.8 million Trump’s 2024 election campaign.
Chris Wright at ARC
After his ARC address, Wright was interviewed Matt RidleyA Tory peer and newspaper columnist who is also an adviser Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), a UK climate denial think tank.
Ridley said, referring to the UK heat wave: “It’s hot in London today, Chris. I’m talking to you from a continent where air conditioning is a sin against Gaia.”
He asked Wright about the benefits of fracking in the UK. “Ten years ago, you and I tried to convince the British government to accept shale gas”, he said. “If we had succeeded, Britain would now be self-sufficient in gas, wouldn’t it?”
Wright replied that a “shale gas revolution” in the UK, where fracking is currently banned, could lead to an “industrial renaissance” that would lower electricity bills and create jobs for “blue-collar workers”.
Ridley also asked whether the “battle for the commons” over climate change has been won in the United States. Wright replied: “I’d say we’ve won. We haven’t quite won yet, but we’ve won by a margin.”
He later added: “Understand climate change for what it is: a slow-moving phenomenon that will eventually be solved by advanced technology.”
This reflects Wright’s long-standing views. In a video Posting on LinkedIn in January 2023, Wright said, “There is no climate crisis”.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world’s leading climate science body, said It is “unequivocal” that human influence has caused “unprecedented” global warming and is increasing the threat of floods, droughts and heat waves.
Wright’s comments about the hot weather echoed comments at earlier ARC events Bjorn LomborgDanish climate crisis deniers. During his slide presentation, Lomborg said that “extreme heat is the smallest mortality problem almost everywhere in the world (…) remember that extreme cold kills many more”. Wright and Lomborg Known as a friend.
Wright’s involvement with ARC goes back to its first conference in 2023, when he spoke at the group’s first conference in his capacity as oil executive.
Right too appeared By video link at the ARC’s 2025 conference in London, Trump, this time as head of power, pledged to “get off the path” of coal, oil and gas and called the UK’s 2050 net zero goal “an ominous goal” that would “impoverish” people.
ARC CEO Philippa Stroud, a Tory peer, and Wright confirmed this week that they had spoken by phone about the ARC conference ahead of his cabinet nomination in 2025.
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Previously published on desmog
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Photo credit: splash
