The CEO of the world's largest oil producer said the oil industry must play a role in energy transition to avoid 'energy insecurity, rampant inflation, and social unrest'

• Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said the energy system can't be transformed overnight.

• Nasser told CNBC that the industry needs an "orderly transition."

The world's largest oil producer has warned of runaway inflation and social unrest should investment in fossil fuels taper off too quickly in the world's transition to green energy.

Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser made the remarks during a speech at the World Petroleum Council Congress in Houston, Texas, on Monday.

"It's increasingly assumed the entire world can run on alternatives, and the vast global energy system can be totally transformed, virtually overnight" said Nassir, according to a copy of the speech posted to Saudi Aramco's website.

"Or that investments requiring roughly $115 trillion will be made in 30 years," Nasser continued, referring to the pledge made by many energy companies and nations to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. "Most worrying of all is the assumption that the right transition strategy is in place. It is not. It's deeply flawed."

His comments are the latest in a debate between policymakers moving toward sustainable energy and fossil fuel executives as the world navigates a massive energy transition.

"Some people are trying to portray the current high energy prices as the first crisis of the clean energy transition. This is completely wrong," said Fatih Birol, director of the International Energy Agency, at a conference in Copenhagen in October, per Reuters. "The current situation on the energy market has nothing to do with the clean energy transition. If there is one link, it is not because there is too much clean energy, but there is too little."

In May of this year, the IEA advised that energy groups must stop all new oil, gas, and coal projects in order to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Energy prices have risen rapidly this year on the back of the global economic recovery and as supply struggles to catch up with demand. This is in part due to slow investment, energy industry executives say. Many oil exploration and production projects were delayed or canceled after the oil price crash of 2014, according to commodities consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

In September, the European Union's top climate change official, Frans Timmermans, said that record-high power prices in the trade bloc underscore the need to make a faster transition, Reuters reported.

"Had we had the Green Deal five years earlier, we would not be in this position because then we would have less dependence on fossil fuels and on natural gas," Timmermans said, noting that prices for renewable energy had remained stable even amid the fossil fuel price spike.

On Monday, Nasser told CNBC that the industry needs an "orderly transition."

Nasser said during his WPCC speech that admitting the role of oil and gas in reaching net-zero "will be hard for some." But, he added, "admitting this reality will be far easier than dealing with energy insecurity, rampant inflation, and social unrest if prices become intolerably high. And net-zero commitments by countries may start to unravel."

Until this year, the oil market has been relatively sluggish for years — with prices of US futures even falling into the negative zone last year. US crude oil futures are up over 40% year-to-date.