President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Chris Wright, CEO of Liberty Energy, a fracking company based in Denver, as his choice for secretary of energy.

Wright, who calls himself “a tech nerd turned entrepreneur,” is a media-friendly evangelist for fossil fuels who promotes a feel-good message that oil and gas can lift people out of poverty, while disparaging climate science.

In a video posted on LinkedIn last year, Wright declared, “There is no climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition, either.”

Wright, who has no government experience, caught the attention of Trump in part through his appearances on Fox News. He also appears frequently on podcasts and social media videos, often using language and imagery associated with progressive causes to link oil and gas with issues like the fight for women’s equality.

Trump announced Wright’s appointment in a statement and praised him as a “leading technologist and entrepreneur in energy.” He said in addition to leading the Energy Department, Wright would be a member of the newly formed council of national energy.

“He has worked in nuclear, solar, geothermal, and oil and gas,” Trump wrote, referring to Wright. “Most significantly, Chris was one of the pioneers who helped launch the American shale revolution that fueled American energy independence, and transformed the global energy markets and geopolitics.”

Wright is close to Harold Hamm, the billionaire founder of Continental Resources who donated nearly $5 million to Trump since 2023 and is playing a role in the transition.

Wright was a director of the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance, a lobbying group that Hamm founded. The Wall Street Journal described the alliance as a “counterweight” to larger oil industry groups that recognize that climate change is caused by human activity and support some action to address it.

Hamm told Hart Energy, an online publication, that Wright was his top choice to lead the Energy Department.

In August, Wright’s wife, Liz Wright, co-hosted a fundraiser in Montana for Trump. Campaign finance records show that Chris Wright and Liz Wright donated $175,000 apiece to Trump’s joint fundraising campaign committee, called Trump 47.

The core mission of the Energy Department is ensuring the safety of the country’s nuclear arsenal. But under President Joe Biden, the agency has also played a large role in leading the energy transition away from fossil fuels and toward wind, solar, nuclear and other forms of noncarbon energy.

As one of his first tasks, Wright is expected to end a Biden administration pause on new liquefied natural gas export terminals. A judge blocked the pause and the Biden administration did approve at least one export permit, but Republicans and the oil and gas industry have accused the administration of deliberately stalling new approvals.

“We look forward to working with him once confirmed to bolster American geopolitical strength by lifting DOE’s pause on LNG permits and ensuring the open access of American energy for our allies around the world,” said Mike Sommers, the president of the American Petroleum Institute, which represents oil companies, in a statement.

Climate activists criticized the selection of a fossil fuel executive at a time when they say the country needs to invest more heavily in clean energy.

“Like his new boss, Donald Trump, Wright denies the threat of the scientifically proven climate crisis,” said Lori Lodes, the executive director of Climate Power, an environmental nonprofit group. She noted that renewable energy was cheaper to produce than fossil fuels, in part because of the Inflation Reduction Act, a 2022 law pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into wind, solar and other clean energy. Trump wants Congress to repeal it.

“No matter who they voted for, Americans want cheaper, cleaner energy options,” Lodes said.

This past week, Trump named Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota to lead the Interior Department and chair the new national energy council. Trump said the team “will drive U.S. energy dominance, which will drive down inflation, win the AI arms race with China (and others) and expand American diplomatic power to end wars all across the world.”

The image of Wright, who often appears in videos wearing button-down shirts, designer sneakers and no jacket or tie, runs counter to the stereotype of the conservative oil executive.

Yet Wright’s underlying message lines up almost exactly with Trump’s: fossil fuels are critical to growing the economy and climate change is a hoax — or at least, fears of it are overblown.

The president-elect has pledged to “drill, baby drill,” called climate change a scam, and promised to erase regulations designed to curb the fossil fuel pollution that is dangerously heating the planet.

Wright’s rhetoric is less provocative but essentially conveys the same ideas.

On an episode of the podcast “Flipping the Barrel,” Wright suggested that oil and gas could liberate poor, rural women in developing economies from having to spend hours gathering fuel, including dung, for cookstoves.

“I’ve been to 55 countries,” he said. “Low income, poor rural areas and traditional societies. Those humans have the same hearts and dreams, want to take care of their kids.

“A third of humanity doesn’t have access to modern energy, and what’s the biggest impediment to that last third of humanity getting energy right now?” he said. “An irrational and way exaggerated fear of climate change.”

At the United Nations climate summit currently taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan, the main topic is how to help developing nations invest in solar, wind and other clean energy and avoid a reliance on fossil fuels.