Elon Musk says the world needs more oil and gas as a bridge to renewable

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the world needs more oil and gas now to address its energy shortage as it pushes the transition to renewable supplies.

“Right now, we really need more oil and gas, not less,” Musk said Monday during an energy conference in Norway, adding that it was not “demonizing” fossil fuels. At the same time, “we must have a clear path to a sustainable energy future.”

Musk made his comments as Europe grapples with its worst energy crisis in decades, with Russia halting shipments of natural gas to the region and outages at nuclear power plants in France further curtailing leachate supplies.

European politicians have already committed some $280 billion ($278 billion) to ease the pain of rising prices on businesses and consumers, but the aid risks being overshadowed by the scale of the crisis. The European Union will hold an emergency meeting of energy ministers to discuss solutions for the entire bloc.

Ocean winds have “great untapped potential,” Musk said, adding that he is a proponent of nuclear power.

“If you have a well-designed nuclear plant, it shouldn’t shut down, especially right now,” he said.

Tesla makes products including electric cars, solar roofs and batteries that help decarbonize the transportation and energy sectors.