The Future of Oil with Chevron's CEO

The world is rapidly aligning around an ambitious goal of zero net carbon emissions by 2050. But what does that mean for the oil industry?

That's the question we put to Chevron CEO Mike Wirth in this week's episode of Leadership Next, Fortune's podcast about the changing rules of business leadership. Wirth embraced the goal -- something his predecessors in the industry haven't always done -- calling it "a very realistic ambition." But, he said, it will require "a lot of technologies and systems that don't exist today.

And, he sees oil and gas remaining an important part of the energy picture for decades to come.

“Affordable, reliable energy is essential to a growing economy and a prosperous future," Wirth said." The existing oil and gas system can become a lower carbon component of that energy system as we go forward. Most people in our industry are absolutely committed to that and spending a lot of time, money and resources to get there."

As for the "net zero" goal, he said: “Net is a very key word. It doesn’t means zero carbon emissions...We have to find a way to get carbon out of the atmosphere." He noted that Chevron currently operates "the largest carbon capture and storage facility in the world" in Australia.

And he rejected the notion that European oil companies -- BP, Shell, Total -- were moving faster to get to net zero emissions than U.S. firms. “The gap between the U.S. companies and the European companies in terms of actions is not as wide as the gap in their words," he said.

By the way, Wirth is confident Chevron will continue to thrive in 2050. What will it look like? “We will be a large company that invests in complex, scaled energy delivery solutions for the economy. And those solutions will look different in different parts of the world.”

You can find the podcast and Apple or Spotify. Then come back and tell us what you think.