A Sustainable Transition to Renewable Energy Resources in Oil Producing Countries: A Case Study of Iran

Abstract

Iran owns various resources for energy production, including natural resources and land. Although the country holds one of the biggest fossil fuel reserves, the country's development plan and international commitments requires the reduction of GHGs and the implementation of clean energy generation. Despite the various plans and institutional support, the country's dependency and trajectories for investment on oil industry, cheap resources of fossil fuels, the lack of infrastructures and technology are the main barriers for this transition. Governmental support, CO2 pricing and foreign investment (associated with technology imports), are the proposed methods for overcoming the barriers and to facilitate the transition process to renewable energy resources.