Iran Complying with Paris Agreement: With the implementation of output quality improvement projects in Iran’s refineries and the production of Euro-4 gasoline, Iran has taken effective measures in compliance with the Paris Agreement which came into effect in December 2015.

Iran’s Euro-4 and Euro-5 gasoline production has increased to 76 ml/d. That means environmental pollution has declined and environmental quality has improved. However, National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) is proceeding with its projects to increase the refineries’ production capacity and upgrade the quality of refined products.

An agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), dealing with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance, signed in 2016. The agreement’s language was negotiated by representatives of 196 state parties at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in Le Bourget, near Paris, France, and adopted by consensus on 12 December 2015. As of March 2019, 195 UNFCCC members have signed the agreement, and 186 have become party to it. The Paris Agreement’s long-term goal is to keep the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels; and to limit the increase to 1.5 °C, since this would substantially reduce the risks and impacts of climate change.

Under the Paris Agreement, each country must determine, plan, and regularly report on the contribution that it undertakes to mitigate global warming. No mechanism forces a country to set a specific target by a specific date, but each target should go beyond previously set targets.

This strategy involved energy and climate policy including the so called 20/20/20 targets, namely reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (by 20%), the increase of RES (renewables) share (to 20% on the basis of consumption) and the increase of energy efficiency, thus, saving up to 20% in the energy consumption.

Countries furthermore aim to reach “global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible”. The agreement has been described as incentive for and driver of fossil fuel divestment. The Paris deal is the world’s first comprehensive climate agreement.

One of the significant measures upon which Iran can focus would be to reduce the emission of pollutants caused by flare gas. Iran has already formulated a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, particularly in its 6th Five-Year Economic Development Plan.

Iran, home to over 80 million and covering a large area in Asia, is instrumental in reducing greenhouse gas. The transportation sector, which mainly depends on fossil fuel, is a major air pollution factor. Therefore, in case the quality of fuel delivered to this sector improves, Iran will in the long-term see its air pollution decline.

Iran’s daily increasing need for fuel in the transportation sector necessitates self-sufficiency in fuel production. Ownership of huge oil and gas reserves and the refining sector’s urgent need to upgrade the quantity and quality of products have made Iran’s oil refining and distribution industry crucial.

In the previous round of sanctions before Iran signed thee 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Iran’s refining industry tried its best to neutralize the impact of unlawful sanctions which had mainly targeted Iran’s petroleum sector. Owing to resistance, Iran’s refining industry launched advanced refining facilities and developed catalysts used in this sector.

As Iran has launched new plans to improve the quality of petroleum products, Euro-4 gasoline is being distributed in all cities. Meantime, completion of refining projects at the Bandar Abbas Gas Condensate Refinery, Bandar Abbas Oil Refinery and Tabriz Oil Refinery has brought Iran’s quality gasoline production capacity to 76 ml/d. That is while Iran’s basic gasoline consumption capacity stood at 59 ml/d in 2012, which has now reached 101 ml/d. Iran is now able to export such products, but as Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh has said, the country has no plan to export gasoline now in order to enhance national storage. Source: Shana