Energy Secretary Chris Wright said he believes President Donald Trump will win the “Climate Hero Award” one day after Trump told heads of state at the United Nations that he believes global warming is the “greatest con job perpetrated by the world.”
“I predict in a few years, President Trump will win the Climate Hero Award because of his policies, which are pro-natural gas and pro-nuclear, those are the only two needle movers we have today to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Wright on CNBC’s Squawk Box Wednesday morning.
There is no such thing as the “Climate Hero Award,” though several international and domestic organizations hand out awards for outstanding environmental work. The Climate Action Museum in Chicago hosts the Climate Action Hero Awards, though these focus on climate initiatives in midwest.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Energy Department for comment.
Despite the fact that the “Climate Hero Award” doesn’t actually exist it seems unlikely that the president will be recognized by an environmentalist body for his contributions to fighting climate change.
In his comments, Wright referred to the Trump administration moving away from the Biden administration’s clean energy initiatives focusing on solar power and wind to promote the oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear power industries long-favored by Republicans. Environmental activists have slammed the Trump administrations policies for worsening climate change.
Before his appointment as energy secretary, Wright was the CEO of North America’s second largest hydraulic fracturing company, Liberty Energy, and served on the boards of nuclear tech company, Oklo Inc, and Canadian mineral rights company, EMX Royalty Corp.
Trump spent a significant chunk of his Tuesday speech to the United Nations ripping other countries’ focus on clean energy initiatives.
In one notable digression, Trump ripped Europe for having over “175,000 heat deaths” per year—not because of increased temperatures caused by climate change, but because European countries made it “so expensive to turn on an air conditioner.”
Trump also raged at windmills during his speech, bashing U.K. climate initiatives that harness wind power.
“I want to stop seeing [the U.K.] ruining their beautiful Scottish English countryside with windmills and massive solar panels that goes seven miles by seven miles, taking away farmland,” he said.
Wright has previously come under fire for bizarre arguments against common clean energy initiatives like solar and wind power.
On Sept. 5, the Energy Department tweeted that wind and solar are “worthless” if it’s dark outside or the wind isn’t blowing. Fact checkers have pointed out that solar and wind produce energy reserves that are drawn upon in the event of a wind-less day or during the night.
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