Chevron CEO: Record Gasoline Prices Could Limit Support For Green Energy
Record-high fuel prices in many countries could erode public support for an energy transition as consumers have started to identify the high prices with the green energy push, according to Chevron’s CEO Mike Wirth.
“One of the things I worry the most about is a period of high prices that voters begin to identify with energy transition ambitions,” Wirth said this week as carried by Reuters.
The accelerated timelines for renewable energy sources in response to governments’ ambitions to eliminate dependence on Russian energy amid the ongoing net-zero efforts could have an unintended consequence of lifting prices and slowing the transition, the chief executive of the U.S. oil and gas supermajor said.
“That can erode the public support that will be necessary for the energy transition,” Wirth said. “There is a bit of a paradox that I observe.”
The world needs policies to cut emissions, not restrict oil and gas production until it becomes self-sufficient in renewable energy, according to Wirth.