40 ENERGY
STANDING TOGETHER:
A NEW ERA OF IEA-CHINA
CO-OPERATION
Fatih Birol, Executive Director, IEA
Remarks by Dr. Fatih Birol to the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol Beijing
9 September 2015
By almost any measure, China is the most
important player in the global energy market.
China enjoys that position thanks to an
impressive set of achievements. And yet China
also faces significant energy challenges in the coming
years. China already lies very much at the centre of
nearly every work stream in the IEA, and cooperation
between China and the IEA stretches back nearly
20 years.
But I believe we must and can deepen this partnership. Why? It’s very simple: if
China and the IEA work closely together, everybody benefits. The IEA can serve
as an invaluable resource to China as it pursues the goals of greater energy
security, economic prosperity and environmental sustainability. In return, the IEA
and its members can learn much from China’s rich experiences.
China can rightly claim to have successfully brought electricity to more
people than any other country in the world – and to around half a billion
people in a short period of time
China is also helping improve energy access beyond its own borders, with
supportive investments in energy projects in Africa and other regions
China is the world’s largest wind power market and the world’s largest
producer of hydroelectricity. China is also adding more solar PV capacity each
year than any other country. By the end of this year it will overtake Germany
as the country with the most installed solar PV panels in the world.