Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Fatih Birol
Chief Economist
Director, Office of the Chief Economist
International Energy Agency, Paris

Dr. Fatih Birol is the Chief Economist of the International Energy Agency, with responsibility for the organisation’s economic analysis of energy and climate change policy. He oversees the annual World Energy Outlook which is the flagship publication of the IEA and is recognised as the most authoritative source for energy analysis and projections. He is also the founder and chair of the IEA Energy Business Council which brings together leaders of some of the world’s largest energy companies and policymakers to seek solutions to global energy challenges.

Dr. Birol has been named by Forbes Magazine among the most powerful people in terms of influence on the world’s energy scene. He is a member of the UN Secretary- General’s 'High-level Group on Sustainable Energy for All' and the Chairman of the World Economic Forum’s (Davos) Energy Advisory Board. In 2009, alongside awards from the Dutch and Polish governments, Dr. Birol received Germany’s Federal Cross of Merit. He was awarded the Golden Honour Medal of Austria in 2007 and was made a Chevalier dans l’ordre des Palmes Academique by France in 2006. These followed awards from the governments of Turkey in 2005 and the United States in 2004 and from the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2002. He is a past winner of the International Association of Energy Economics’ annual award for outstanding contribution to the profession.

Prior to joining the IEA in 1995, Dr. Birol worked for six years at the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna.

A Turkish citizen, Dr. Birol was born in Ankara in 1958. He earned a BSc degree in power engineering from the Technical University of Istanbul. He received his MSc and PhD in energy economics from the Technical University of Vienna.

To download Dr. Birol’s CV please click here; for high-resolution photo please click here