Wright, a former oil executive, acknowledged climate change but argued its effects are overstated.
“Today, the likelihood of dying from an extreme weather event is the lowest recorded in history, yet 20 percent of children report nightmares about climate change,” Wright stated at a press conference on Friday, though he did not provide the sources for these statistics.
“We’ve made people afraid of something significant but hyped it too much,” he remarked.
He recommended that countries cease subsidizing renewable energy due to its high cost for industries and minimal impact on emissions.
Earlier in the week in the U.K., he informed the BBC that artificial intelligence would aid in solving climate change by enabling nuclear fusion for electricity generation within a decade or so.
The EU, known for its stringent climate policies, faces internal and external pressure, notably from the U.S., to relax these standards.
European industries contend with high energy expenses and stiff competition from China, while business groups and politicians, spanning from centrist to far-right, claim that environmental regulations impose unsustainable costs on industry.
Currently, EU legislators are evaluating a proposal to reduce regulations mandating companies to disclose their environmental impacts, and member states are finding it difficult to agree on the EU’s 2040 emissions target.
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