Interview Claude Mandil: Appeal for a ‘shared understanding’

by Karel Beckman

On September 1, after four and a half years in office, Claude Mandil retired as executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), the energy watchdog of the OECD. Under the leadership of the affable Frenchman, the stature of the IEA has grown tremendously. The IEA is now intimately involved in the G8 process and has become by far the most important source of independent information on world energy markets. Still, the future of the IEA is challenging as the importance of the OECD countries in the global energy market is set to decline. ‘We will have to seek cooperation with non-member countries like China, India and Russia’, says Mandil. In this interview, Mandil - highly popular among his staff - looks back on his time at the IEA and shares his feelings on the future of the energy industry. ‘The major constraint on our actions’, he concludes, ‘will be the respect we need to show to our grandchildren.’