During Chris Wright’s January 2025 confirmation hearing as Secretary of Energy, his home-state senator, John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), expressed concern about the pace of climate change. Wright agreed that climate change was a serious issue, citing his twenty-year career in diverse energy sectors, including renewables.
“The solution to climate change is to evolve our energy system,” he told Hickenlooper. “I’ve worked on that most — all of my career, again in nuclear and solar, and geothermal and new battery storage technology now.”
This is far from the first time Wright has noted he’s worked in solar. Wright — the former founder, chief executive, and chair of Colorado-based Liberty Energy, one of the country’s top fracking companies — has claimed in public appearances, organizational biographies, on his LinkedIn profile, and even formal testimony before Congress that he spent parts of his career working in solar energy.
But despite such claims, there’s no evidence that Wright ever studied, invested in, or worked in solar energy, according to a Lever investigation of Wright’s school records, corporate disclosures, and several close followers of his career and companies.
In fact, the entire notion that Wright has ever worked in solar energy exclusively stems from vague public claims he’s made on the matter. The one time he elaborated on this notion, he submitted a resume with what appears to be false information about his solar experience to Congress, The Lever found.
