HRH PRINCE SULTAN BIN ABDUL AZIZ served as deputy prime minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. During his long career in government, he also served as the first minister of agriculture in Saudi Arabia, minister of communications, minister of defense and aviation, and as chairman of Saudi Arabian Airlines. Crown Prince Sultan was also chairman of the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development (NCWCD), an organization which he founded in 1986 to promote the protection of the nation’s indigenous wildlife. He died in 2011.
Held by Johannes Urpelainen
JOHANNES URPELAINEN is the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Professor of Energy, Resources and Environment at Johns Hopkins SAIS and the Founding Director of the Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy (ISEP). He received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Michigan in 2009 and spent the next eight years at Columbia University.
Johannes is the award-winning author of four books and over a hundred refereed articles on environmental politics, energy policy, and global governance. He teaches action-oriented classes on energy and environmental policy to equip the next generation of global leaders with deep knowledge, advanced analytical skills — and a passion for transformational social change. As one of the world’s top energy policy experts, Johannes frequently advises governments, international organizations, and the private sector on energy and environment.
As the Founding Director of ISEP, Johannes is responsible for the vision, strategy, and general management of the initiative. His work under ISEP offers pragmatic but effective approaches to providing the world’s population with affordable and abundant energy at minimal environmental impact. In his spare time, Johannes reads biographies and tries to improve his Hindi.