‘A colossal train wreck’: U.S. energy chief slams odds of net zero by 2050

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright has lambasted plans to reach net zero emissions by 2050, calling the climate target “a colossal train wreck” that countries will most likely fail to achieve.

His comments, which were first published as part of an interview with the Financial Times on Monday, come as Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum prepare to travel to Milan, Italy, for the Gastech energy conference.

“Net zero 2050 is just a colossal train wreck … It’s just a monstrous human impoverishment program and of course there is no way it is going to happen,” Wright said in remarks shared by the U.S. Department of Energy on social media platform X.

Net zero refers to the goal of achieving a state of balance between the carbon emitted into the atmosphere and the carbon removed from it.

More than 140 countries, including major polluters such as the U.S., India and the European Union, have adopted plans to reach net zero by various timelines.

To meet the critically important warming threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius, as prescribed in the landmark Paris Agreement, global carbon emissions should reach net zero by around the middle of the century, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit non-profit.

For high-income nations such as the U.S., this means reaching net zero by 2050 or earlier. Low-income countries can meanwhile achieve the feat by the 2050s or 2060s.

A former oil and gas executive, Wright has recognized climate change as a global challenge that “deserves attention,” while criticizing what he has described as “climate alarmists.”

Scientists, meanwhile, have challenged Wright’s comments on climate change, describing them as “a regurgitation of misinformative talking points.”

Human activities, particularly the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas, are the primary cause of climate change.

The Trump administration official, who is scheduled to deliver an address on the U.S. vision for global energy security at Gastech on Wednesday, has reportedly warned that European climate rules could threaten the EU’s trade deal with the White House.

The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, the world’s first carbon border levy, and the bloc’s regulation on methane were among some of the measures cited by Wright as potential risks to the U.S.-EU trade framework, according to the Financial Times.

A spokesperson for the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, declined to comment.

Under the terms of the U.S.-EU trade pact, which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described as a “good deal” when it was struck, the EU has said companies in the 27-nation bloc have expressed interest in investing at least $600 billion in various sectors by 2029.

The EU also intends to purchase U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG), oil and nuclear energy products with an expected offtake valued at $750 billion over the next three years, seeking to replace Russian energy on the EU market.

Asked about Wright’s comments on net zero, the chief executive of French oil giant TotalEnergies said that, when you listen to the EU’s energy narrative, “it’s security of supply, it’s affordability and it’s sustainability.”

“Europe is importing fossil fuels so, for us, our dependency is a problem,” TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne told CNBC’s Dan Murphy on Tuesday.

“I think it is not a matter of ideology. It is a matter to be pragmatic on energy and honestly, it is true that in Europe, the narrative was very dominated by climate five years ago. Today, since the Russian war, listen to the European leaders: security of supply, affordability,” Pouyanne said.