A glance at emissions in Iran

Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 14

By Dalga Khatinoglu – Trend:

Iran ranks 10th in the world with annual emissions of 602.26 million tons of carbon dioxide.

The country has committed to decrease this volume by 12 percent by 2030 according to its commitments at the Paris climate conference (COP21) in December 2015.

Below are the details of emissions in Iran during the fiscal year that ended in March 2015, according to the latest Oil Ministry statistics.

According to the statistics, the total amount of emissions of the abovementioned gases in Iran was more than 615 million tons in the fiscal year to March 2015.

Some 602 million tons of CO2 was discharged in Iran in 2015, while the figure was 556.8 million tons in 2012.

Despite the fact that Iran increased the share of natural gas in energy consumption from about zero in 1970s to 70 percent in 2015, as well as replaced liquid fuels with natural gas in transportation and power sectors, the emission volume has been increasing. For instance, the volume of CO2 emissions was 492 million tons in 2005.

Iran has a $16-billion plan to optimize the energy consumption in the country, especially in curbing up to 30 mcm/d gas flaring, renewing the urban transportation, enhancing the efficiency of power plants, etc.

Below is the share of energy carriers in CO2 emissions in the fiscal year to March 2015:

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Dalga Khatinoglu is the head of Trend Agency's Iran news service, follow him on Twitter: @dalgakhatinoglu