Chris Wright

Birthday: June 25,1965

Hometown: Denver, CO

Primary residence: Castle Rock, CO

Current role: U.S. Secretary of Energy

Net worth: $171M

Annual Salary:

Education: Bachelor’s degree from MIT

Board memberships, affiliations, and roles (WealthX):

• Director at OKLO Inc.

• Director at EMX Royalty

• Director at the Pacific Research Institute

• Director at Property and Environmental Research Center (PERC)

Past roles (WealthX): 

• Director at Accretion Acquisitions (2021-2023)

Chairman at Liberty Oilfield Services (2016-2018)

• Director of Stroud Energy (2005-2006)

• Lecturer for the Society of Petroleum Engineers (2000-2001)

• CEO and President of Pinnacle Technologies (1992-2006)

Climate Denialism

• Chris Wright is friends with Bjorn Lomborg, an internationally influential climate denier. Wright credits some of his views on climate change to Lomborg, dubbing Lomborg’s controversial book False Alarm, which frames the climate crisis to be “not the apocalyptic threat that we’ve been told it is,” as “fantastic.”

• Wright referred to Magatte Wade, the director of the Center for African Prosperity, as a “personal friend”. The Center for African Prosperity has a history of supporting climate obstruction and promoting climate denial. It is part of the Atlas Network, a non-profit that features many climate denial think tanks. Wright was featured on a podcast with the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, a group of conservative climate deniers led by Jordan Peterson. Wright has also expressed public appreciation towards climate deniers Matt Ridley and Michael Shellenberger. 

Political Ties

• Over the years, Wright has been asked to speak at many political events, including an event in 2022 hosted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF). TPPF is a conservative think tank that has received $3.6M since 1998 from organizations related to the Koch brothers. Tim Dunn, a director at TPPF, runs the pro-Trump American First Policy Institute (AFPI).  Lee Zeldin, a chair member at AFPI, was nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The former president of TPPF and Kevin Roberts lead the Heritage Foundation, an organization funded by the Koch Brothers that is responsible for Trump’s Project 2025. 

• Wright has donated money to many conservative political candidates and groups, some of which have encouraged the spread of climate denialism or misinformation. Just one example is Americans for Prosperity Action—a non-profit founded by the Koch Brothers. 

• Wright continues to downplay the severity of the climate crisis in his new role the Department of Energy Secretary. In early March he said, “we haven’t seen an increase in the frequency or intensity of hurricanes, floods, droughts, storms. Wildfires are on an uptick because we stopped managing our forests.”. While he concedes that the climate is changing, he is known to continually downplay risks and continuously advocate for the future of fossil fuels. 

Wealth

• Wright has approximately $50M in shareholdings for Liberty Energy as of November of 2024. In 2023, Wright reportedly earned a salary of $5.6M. In that same year, the company reportedly earned an annual revenue of $4.7B. According to WealthX, Chris Wright owns two properties, one in Castle Rock, CO and one in Big Sky, MT, valued at $750,000 and $16,000,000, respectively. 

Praise

• Since being nominated to Donald Trump's cabinet as Energy Secretary, Liberty Energy has experienced a rise in its stock. Wright has received praise for his nomination from climate deniers like Gregory Wrightstone, the executive director of the CO2 Coalition. The CO2 Coalition is an organization that has publicly disputed climate science while receiving donations from fossil fuel billionaires like Charles Koch. Wright has also received praise from the head of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, being dubbed a “pragmatic problem solver” and “not a climate denier.” Climate denier Matt Ridley posted on X, formerly Twitter, congratulating his “good friend Chris Wright” on his nomination for Energy Secretary. Kevin Roberts congratulated Wright on X, claiming that he is “an excellent selection” and “ will be an outstanding #EnergySecretary.”

Honors and Awards

• Wright was asked by Montana Technological University to be the commencement speaker in May of 2024. In 2022, Liberty Energy honored Chris Wright with the “Wildcatter of the Year” award for his leadership and achievements in the oil and gas industry. In 2020, Wright was featured in Oil & Gas Investor Magazine for their June issue. In 2019, the company honored Wright with the “Inaugural Denver Business Journal Who’s Who in Energy Trailblazer Award” for his advocacy work within the oil and gas industry.

• Chris Wright is the founder, CEO, and Chairman of Liberty Energy, an oilfield services company. Liberty Energy’s main service is providing fracking services to oil and gas companies. Because Liberty Energy doesn’t directly produce oil and gas, they aren’t required to publish annual reports about their carbon emissions. However, the company publishes an annual report where it details financial and safety metrics as well as any new programs or strategies adopted that year. Additionally, the company has an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) report titled “Bettering Human Lives.”  

Wright has faced push-back from many people including politicians and environmental groups.

• “An unelected Billionaire who made his vast fortune off government contracts should not be able to unilaterally stop [clean energy] programs, and take money out of the pockets of Americans who need it most.” - Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio)

• “Chris Wright is a science-denying, self-serving, sanctimonious fracker who consistently puts the wants of energy producers over the needs of American energy consumers. To put him in charge of the Department of Energy is to fulfill the dreams of every fossil fuel company who hopes to boost their profits by raising energy costs for Americans.” - Representative Sean Casten (D-Illinois)

• “Any nominee, including Chris Wright, who ignores the stakes in this global clean energy race – or fails to recognize the urgent challenge of climate change – should concern all of us. If the Trump administration blocks investments in energy efficiency and clean energy technologies, it will jeopardize the health of communities across our country, destroy job opportunities, and make our nation less competitive.” - Amanda Leland, Executive Director of the Environmental Defense Fund

• “Not since Donald Trump's most recent cabinet pick has a nominee ever been so utterly unqualified for the job. Chris Wright is a climate denier who has profited off of polluting our communities and endangering our health and future. So, of course Donald Trump finds him fit to lead the Department of Energy, where he’ll be hell-bent on abusing his power to prolong the use of deadly fossil fuels and give his corporate polluter executive friends a rubber stamp for the unfettered buildout of LNG exports. Clean air and clean water are not a priority for these people, and their reckless ideas and policies will only further harm the American people. Chris Wright is not merely unqualified, he’s a direct threat to our future and the planet’s.” - Ben Jealous, Executive Director of the Sierra Club

• “Putting a fossil fuel executive and noted climate denier in charge of one of the federal agencies tasked with helping us meet our climate goals tells us exactly what we’re up against with this administration. We will use the courts and every tool at our disposal to spur the imperative clean energy transition that is already underway.” - Abigail Dillen, President of Earthjustice

• “Like his new boss, Donald Trump, Wright denies the threat of the scientifically proven climate crisis.” - Lori Lodes, Executive Director of Climate Power. 

• “[Climate change] is a global physical phenomenon that is a side effect of building the modern world.” -Wright, March 2025

• “The Trump administration will end the Biden administration’s irrational, quasi-religious policies on climate change that imposed endless sacrifices on our citizens.” - Wright, March 2025

• “We’ve had years of Western countries shamelessly saying don’t develop coal, coal is bad… That’s just nonsense, 100 percent nonsense. Coal transformed our world and made it better.” - Wright, March 2025

• “There is no climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition, either…. Humans and all complex life on Earth is simply impossible without carbon dioxide. Hence, the term ‘carbon pollution’ is outrageous.”- Chris Wright, LinkedIn video, 2023.

• “The world runs on oil and gas, and we need that.” - Chris Wright, 2023.“

• “I don’t care where energy comes, as long as it is secure, reliable, affordable and betters human lives.” - Chris Wright, LinkedIn

• According to CNN, Wright has “acknowledged the link between burning fossil fuels and climate change but has expressed doubt that climate change is linked to worsening extreme weather.”

• Chris Wright is the U.S. Secretary of Energy under the Trump Administration and serves on the newly formed National Energy Dominance Council. Prior to this position, Wright has held no position in government.

• Chris Wright has made several donations to political candidates, PACs, and organizations over the years. Wright donated $3,300 to Gabe Evans (R), a Representative for the state of Colorado. Evans has been quoted blaming the increased cost of living on “climate alarmism” and “draconian Leftist climate regulations.” Wright also donated $3,300 to President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Department of the Interior, Doug Burgum. Burgum has close ties to the fossil fuel industry and has been dubbed a “climate skeptic” by the Sierra Club.

• Wright donated $2,520 in 2024 and $3,300 in 2023 to U.S. Senator-elect Tim Sheehy (R) (WealthX). Sheehy reportedly campaigned against the “climate cult” and “radical environmentalists”, claiming that the increase of wildfires is due to the mismanagement of forests. Sheehy referred to John Kerry, President Biden’s presidential envoy for climate, as the “Supreme Leader of the Climate Cult.” He also removed climate change related references and environmental social governance principles (ESG) from his website during his race for Senate in 2023. Wright also donated $41,650 to Ted Cruz in 2022 (WealthX). 

• Wright has donated to many Republican committees, having donated $41,300 to the Republican National Committee on July 30, 2024 and $10,000 to the Colorado Republican Committee on August 28 2018.

• Wright has also donated to nonprofits, including the Koch Brothers’ nonprofit Americans for Prosperity Action, (AFP) having donated $100,000 in 2023 and $25,000 in 2020. AFP received $380,250 from ExxonMobil between the years of 1998-2001. 

The primary funders of AFP:

• Freedom Partners, founded by Charles Koch: $211,215,000 

• DonorsTrust, a nonprofit that spreads climate denial : $30,936,331

• American Encore, founded by Koch ally Sean Noble: $16,056,079

• David H. Koch Charitable Foundation: $7,206,853

• Since entering the White House in January 2025, Wright has continuously critiqued the Biden administration’s energy policies and efforts to fight climate change and has promised a “180 degree pivot.”

• Wright’s first secretarial order, “Unleashing the Golden Era of American Energy Dominance” claims that the Department of Energy will focus on the acceleration of domestic energy production, while omitting mentions of clean energy. This order ridicules net-zero policies and is intended to reinforce the U.S.’s position as the world’s top liquified natural gas exporter and producer of fossil fuels. 

• The Department of Energy has created a “hit list” of clean energy projects already awarded billions of dollars in grants and loans under the Inflation Reduction Act and other federal funding opportunities. 

• Wright and Burgum now lead the new National Energy Dominance Council established by President Trump, which will prioritize the expansion of fossil fuel energy.