24/11/2010
Given the growing strategic importance of energy and climate change, cognizant of the shift of the center of gravity of these related strategic issues to the eastern part of the world, Sabancı University has decided to establish a new center on energy and climate. Named the “Istanbul International Center for Energy and Climate (IICEC),” the official announcement of the establishment of the center was made in a press conference at the Karaköy Communication Center of the University. Attending the conference were Güler Sabancı, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of Sabancı University, Professor Nihat Berker, President, and Dr. Fatih Birol, Chief Economist of the International Energy Agency in Paris.
Güler Sabancı, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of Sabancı University, announced that the International Steering Committee for the center would be led by Dr. Fatih Birol, who was recently named by Forbes Magazine as the world’s fourth most powerful person in terms of influence on the world’s energy scene, on an honorary consultant basis. IICEC will be the first center at this strategic center in the world to be focused on energy and climate change, and Sabancı University, similarly to its previous initiatives, will be pioneering this field. The Center is expected to make Sabancı University an authority on energy and climate change, not only in Turkey, but also expanding its influence to the region and the entire world. It was further mentioned that the intellectual composition of Sabancı University presents an exceptional opportunity for such an initiative.
IICEC is planned to be a future-oriented independent research and policy center designed to conduct objective, high-quality economic and policy studies in the areas of energy and climate. IICEC efforts will help the development of solutions to a sustainable energy future for the region and the world. Working with governments, businesses, research bodies, and international organizations in the region and in the world, IICEC aims to inform policy makers and industry on key energy and climate challenges. The Center will be located in Istanbul, at the crossroads of almost all current and emerging strategic energy players, both on the producing and consuming side of global energy markets.
Dr. Fatih Birol made the following remarks during the press conference: “In both energy production and energy consumption, the center of gravity of the world is moving Eastward. Our neighbors in the Middle East, Russia, and the Caucasus are rapidly increasing their weights in the petroleum and natural gas world markets. With respect to consumption, China, India, and the Middle Eastern countries have moved to top positions in the world. It is of strategic importance for this region and for the world markets that the decision-makers in the region need to correctly assess the global developments in energy and environment and reflect these assessments to the important decisions they are making. It is for these reasons that I find Ms. Güler Sabancı’s decision to form such a Center extremely appropriate and timely. I am myself very happy to support on an Honorary basis this very important enterprise and to work with my very valuable colleagues in the International Steering Committee.”
IICEC International Steering Committee
The International Steering Committee of the Center will include influential experts on energy. The nine members of the Committee are as follows:
Nabil O. Al-Khowaiter, Director of Business Development, King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC), Riyadh, S. Arabia
Xavier Chen, President of Beijing Energy Club, China
Kemal Derviş, Vice President of the Brookings Institute
John Deutch, Institute Professor, MIT
Selahattin Hakman, Group President, Energy, Sabancı Holding
Barbara Thomas Judge, Chairperson of the UK Atomic Energy Authority
Michael Pistauer, Chairperson of the Executive Board of Verbund, Austria
Güler Sabancı, Chairperson, Sabancı University Board of Trustees
Nihat Berker, President, Sabancı University