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Fatih Birol

Fatih Birol
Birol in 2019
Executive director of the International Energy Agency
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 September 2015
Deputy	Mary Burce Warlick
Preceded by	Maria van der Hoeven
Personal details
Alma mater	Istanbul Technical University Vienna University of Technology

Fatih Birol is a Turkish economist and energy expert, who has served as the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) since 1 September 2015. During his time in charge of the IEA, he has taken a series of steps to modernise the Paris-based international organisation, including strengthening ties with emerging economies like India^[1] and China and stepping up work on the clean energy transition and international efforts to reach net zero emissions.^[2]

Birol was on the Time 100 list of the world's most influential people in 2021,^[3] has been named by Forbes magazine among the most influential people on the world's energy scene^[4] and recognised by the Financial Times in 2017 as Energy Personality of the Year.^[5] Birol is the chairman of the World Economic Forum (Davos) Energy Advisory Board. He is a frequent contributor to print and electronic media and delivers numerous speeches each year at major international summits and conferences.^[6]

Prior to joining the IEA as a junior analyst in 1995, Birol worked at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna. Over the years at the IEA, Birol worked his way up to the job of Chief Economist, a role in which he was in charge of the IEA's closely watched World Energy Outlook report, before he became executive director in 2015.

A Turkish citizen, Birol was born in Ankara in 1958. He earned a BSc degreeinpower engineering from the Istanbul Technical University. He received his MSc and PhDinenergy economics from the Technical University of Vienna. In 2013, Birol was awarded a Doctorate of Science honoris causa by Imperial College London. In 2023, he was elected as a foreign member of the prestigious Chinese Academy of Engineering.^[7] He was made an honorary life member of the football club Galatasaray S.K. in 2013.

• Africa Europe Foundation (AEF), member of the High-Level Group of Personalities on Africa-Europe Relations (since 2020)^[8]

Ribbon bar	Award or decoration	Country	Date	Place	Note	Ref.
	Medal for Outstanding Service of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey	Turkey	1 October 2005	Ankara		[9]
	Ordre des Palmes Académiques	France	1 October 2006	Paris		[10]
	Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria	Austria	1 March 2007	Vienna		[10]
	First Class Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany	Germany	19 November 2009	Berlin		[10]
	Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic	Italy	14 June 2012	Paris		[10]
	First Class Order of the Polar Star	Sweden	11 December 2013	Stockholm		[10][11]
	First Class Order of the Rising Sun	Japan	30 January 2014	Paris		[10][12]
	Melchett Medal	United Kingdom	2017			[13]
	Chevalier of the Legion of Honour	France	6 December 2023	Paris	highest honor	[10][14][15]

^ IEA (6 December 2023). "President Emmanuel Macron of France awards Legion of Honour to IEA executive director Fatih Birol — Press release". International Energy Agency. Paris, France. Retrieved 11 December 2023. Covers award ceremony.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fatih Birol.

• Fatih Birol's biography
• International Energy Agency
• World Energy Outlook