Elon Musk has warned that "civilisation will crumble" if we don't use oil and gas in the "short term".
Speaking at an energy conference in Norway on Monday (August 29) the Tesla CEO called for more fossil fuels while also insisting that "we must have a clear path to a sustainable energy future".
"At this time, we actually need more oil and gas, not less," he said, according to Bloomberg.
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"Realistically I think we need to use oil and gas in the short term, because otherwise civilisation will crumble.
"One of the biggest challenges the world has ever faced is the transition to sustainable energy and to a sustainable economy. That will take some decades to complete."
While insisting he did not want to "demonise" fossil fuels, Musk explained that the transition to sustainable energy must happen "as fast as possible".
The world's richest man also weighed in on the debate surrounding nuclear energy, which some environmentalists see as a way to achieve a carbon-free world while others see it as a potential hazard.
Musk agreed with the former camp. "If you have a well-designed nuclear plant, you should not shut it down, especially right now," he said.
His comments came after shutdowns of nuclear power plants in Germany were criticised amid the impact on energy following Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
The Norway conference came just a few days after Musk, in typical style, took to Twitter to make another bold statement about the climate crisis.
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He wrote: "Population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming.
"(And I do think global warming is a major risk)."
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