Roadmap for Sustainable Recovery of the Energy Market is Discussed in IICEC’s Webinar
The webinar on “Sustainable Energy & New Reality”, organized by Sabancı University Istanbul International Energy and Climate Center (IICEC), was held on June 23, 2020.
Sabancı University Founding Chairman of the Board of Trustees Güler Sabancı made the opening speech, and Fatih Birol, the Executive Director of International Energy Agency (IEA) and Kıvanç Zaimler, the President of Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD) Energy Working Group participated in the panel discussion, moderated by IICEC Research Director Bora Şekip Güray.
Güler Sabancı, Chairman of the Founding Board of Trustees of Sabancı University, said, “We all performed successfully in the fields of energy supply security, supply quality and customer satisfaction, and strong continuity of services and field operations during the pandemic and we continue to show. Moreover, this period once again showed that sustainability would continue to be the main agenda item of our sector.” during her opening remarks.
“We expect a huge decrease in global energy consumption in 2020 due to economic problems, even seven times faster than energy demand decline after the 2009 financial crisis. As of the first six months, more than 3 million people lost their jobs in the world. The risk of losing another 3.5 million jobs over the next six months is seriously ahead of us.” said Fatih Birol, the Executive Director of International Energy Agency (IEA).
Emphasizing IICEC’s role to bring together the prominent names of the energy sector, Güler Sabancı said; “While these days of change have been moving us into a “new reality”, the halls we are familiar with have left their places to digital platforms as we are in today. IICEC continues to bring together energy sector stakeholders in this period with the abilities of digitalization. Therefore, I see today as an essential opportunity to evaluate the changes we experience in the energy sector and our future.”
Assessing the Covid-19 pandemic, Güler Sabanci said; “We, as the public and private bodies of the Turkish energy sector, all performed successfully in the fields of energy supply security, supply quality, and customer satisfaction, and strong continuity of services and field operations during the pandemic and we continue to show. Moreover, this period once again showed that sustainability would continue to be the main agenda item of our sector.
Strengthening financial sustainability, more focusing on increasing environmental and social sustainability, should continue to guide us in our steps for a more efficient, competitive, and technologyoriented energy future. On the other hand, as stakeholders of the energy ecosystem, we must further strengthen our public, private, and university collaborations.”
Reminding that Sabancı University celebrates its 20th anniversary, Güler Sabancı continued her opening remarks as follows: “IICEC, the Energy and Climate Center of our University is getting stronger with an ever-growing effect, as a 10-years old institution, and continues to bring high-level stakeholders together. Now IICEC is updating Turkey Energy Outlook due to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, which they prepare by analytical modeling and analysis. Turkey Energy Outlook, which will be the first of a kind in Turkey, will be completed soon. “