Daesung Group Chairman Younghoon David Kim was inaugurated as the chairman of the World Energy Council, a group of energy leaders around the world, at a ceremony in Istanbul on Thursday, the company said.

Kim is the first Korean and second Asian to lead the council. His term ends in 2019.

He will represent the council with Jean-Marie Dauger, a former executive vice chair at Engie, who has been appointed as co-chair for the next three years.

In his inaugural speech, Kim urged the council members to embrace new frontiers leading future industries.

“We are seeing a steady paradigm shift from a carbon-based economy powered by the combustion of fossil fuels to one based on new sources of energy and new modes of power generation,” Kim said.

“Now, what this industry sorely needs are visionaries who have the whole picture in their sights. We need to seek out and to support the future Michael Faradays toiling in the labs or workshops from Nairobi to New York.”

Before becoming the chairman of the international organization, Kim served for six years as vice chair of the council’s Asia-Pacific and South Asia division from 2005. In 2013, he was elected as co-chair.

Established in 1923, the WEC has brought global leaders together to achieve sustainable and affordable energy for all, the company said. It is an UN-accredited energy body and principal impartial network, representing more than 3,000 organizations in 92 countries, it added.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)