By William JamesAlex Lawler
LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Monday called a pledge to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 a “sinister goal”, and criticised the British government’s attempts to hit clean energy targets.
Former President Joe Biden set a target in 2021 for the United States to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 to help fight climate change, in part by using subsidies to encourage an expansion of clean energy and electric vehicles.
“Net Zero 2050 is a sinister goal. It’s a terrible goal,” Wright said, speaking via videolink at a conference being held in London.
“The aggressive pursuit of it – and you’re sitting in a country that has aggressively pursued this goal – has not delivered any benefits, but it’s delivered tremendous costs.”
Wright also used a question and answer session at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship event to say his number one priority was for the government to “get out of the way” of the production of oil, gas and coal.
President Donald Trump’s administration said on Friday it had granted a liquefied natural gas export license to the Commonwealth LNG project in Louisiana, the first approval of LNG exports after Biden paused them early last year.
