The era of “global boiling” is here, with many accusing Big Oil companies like Chevron, Shell, and BP of being major contributors toward climate catastrophe while exhibiting grotesque greed. However, Chevron’s CEO, Mike Wirth, disagrees with that narrative.
In fact, Wirth thinks that the $300 billion oil and gas company is “selling a product that has changed the quality of life on this planet. For the better.”
The 63-year-old industry veteran even described the company he has been leading since 2018 as “grounded in integrity and a deep belief in doing the right thing” in an interview with the Financial Times, before brushing off critics and making a “real world” case for fossil fuels.
“We are not selling a product that is evil,” Wirth added. “We’re selling a product that’s good.”
Chevron didn't immediately respond to Fortune's request for comment.
Big Oil's biggest critics
It’s hardly surprising that Wirth—who has worked at Chevron for 41 years, including five as its CEO—would defend his employer. However, mounting evidence has suggested the burning of fossil fuels is a major cause of climate change and the biggest contributor of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Since the early 1900s, the world has warmed by around 2° Fahrenheit (or 1.1 degrees Celsius), with the United Nations declaring this year that “the era of global boiling has arrived” as the world experienced its hottest summer since records began.
It’s why environmental activist groups like Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion have gone to extreme lengths such as blocking motorways to protest energy companies prioritizing profit at the expense of the planet
Even President Joe Biden complained about energy companies “making more money than God”—at consumers’ expense—after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, condemned the “grotesque greed” of oil and gas companies while urging governments to introduce a windfall tax to help those in the most need.
Wirth pushes bvack
Although Wirth agreed that as one of the world’s largest oil and gas producers Chevron needs to work with its critics “to be part of the solution,” he swiftly added the caveat: “But that can’t deter us from what we do.”
While competitors such as BP and Shell are actively promoting more aggressive transitions toward a lower-carbon future, Wirth's message is clear: Lower emissions are important, but not at the expense of maintaining an affordable and reliable energy supply.
For that reason, he said, he doesn’t see demand for fossil fuels dying out anytime soon. “You can build scenarios, but we live in the real world, and have to allocate capital to meet real-world demands,” he added.
On that basis and taking into account that energy security, energy affordability and lower emissions “are in tension with one another,” Chevron will spend just $2 billion of its $14 billion capital spending budget on lower carbon investments this year, because such bets offer lower returns.
Who is Mike Wirth?
Wirth was born in Los Alamos—home to the Manhattan Project where the atomic bomb was developed—where his father worked in the National Laboratory. The family then moved to Golden, Colo., when his father assumed an executive role at the American brewery and beer company Coors.
Like many CEOs, Wirth was into sports growing up and credits school football and basketball coaches for instilling in him values of hard work, discipline, and teamwork.
His foray into the working world began with summer jobs at the brewery. Wirth's duties included crafting ashtrays, and he was taken by the loyalty his father had inspired by engaging with workers on the production line. It’s why, he tells the FT, he now makes a point of talking to “the operators, the mechanics, the people who work with their hands” at Chevron.
Wirth took the helm of Chevron at the end of a decade-long shale investment boom in the U.S. and has been forced to watch every penny. After walking away from a $50 billion-plus takeover battle with rival Occidental Petroleum for Anadarko Petroleum, the pandemic struck and oil prices nose-dived.
Although the veteran boss has managed to turn the company around, it’s not been without controversy.
Chevron’s returns on capital employed are more than double what they were in 2018 and a 52% jump in its annual revenue, landing the oil giant a top spot in the Fortune 500 for the first time since 2015. Meanwhile, the company just acquired Hess for $53 billion, marking the latest major U.S. oil takeover as the industry bets on an enduring future for fossil fuels.
At the same time, it’s being sued by the state of California for downplaying fossil fuel risks.
