In 1979, millions of Iranians succeeded in ousting Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1941-1979), the Shah of Iran and son of Reza Khan, who came to power in 1921 via a coup. While the Shah was popular in the West, some believe he tried to modernize Iran too rapidly and did not adequately adapt his political institutions to the economic and social changes that ensued. Inspired by hopes for democracy, economic prosperity for all classes, gender equality, and a leadership that would not allow Iranian culture to be swallowed up by the West, many Iranian women joined the revolt that stunned the world. The Iranian Revolution was led by Ayatollah R. Khomeini, who had been living in exile in Paris, France.

Today, the Islamic Republic of Iran is a unitary Islamic republic with a sole legislative body, the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Ardehali, 2006). Since 1989, the spiritual leader of Iran or Rahbar has been Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei. The capital of Iran is Tehran, and Farsi (Persian) is the official language. In 2000, crude and refined petroleum composed 85.4 percent of the nation's exports, which totaled more than $28 billion. Trading partners included Japan, China, Italy, and Taiwan. Petroleum and natural gas accounted for 57 percent of $181 trillion in revenues.

Since 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has served as president of the Republic of Iran. While relations with the United States have been shaky, newly elected U.S. president Barack Obama emphasized the importance of communicating with Iran, a country the George W. Bush administration had called "dangerous. (Axworthy, 2008)"

In 2006, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) demanded that Iran halt uranium enrichment for its nuclear program, which Iran claimed was to be used for peaceful purposes. While Obama eschewed Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, he said "it is important for us to be willing to talk to Iran, to express very clearly where our differences are, but where there are potential avenues for progress."

Iran ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 2005. The decision was endorsed by the Guardian Council, which discussed Iran's plan to adhere to the U.N. Stockholm Declaration regarding sustainable development; the Stockholm Declaration put forth principles that might guide the world's nations to preserve and enhance the human environment. As such, the Office of Climate Change in Iran's Environmental Protection Agency released a report stating that since the Kyoto Protocol came into force in February, 2005, new activities designed to decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were occurring under the U.N. flexible mechanisms program of the protocol. In addition, it was thought that there was a need to immediately sign the protocol, because an upcoming summit in 2005 was to focus on technology transfer and financial aid to be given by developed, Annex I nations to developing, non-Annex I nations, and only parties to the Kyoto Protocol could participate.

Iran is ranked eighteenth of the highest GHG emitters. Developing nations, all of whose emissions rose during the first decade of the Kyoto Protocol, include China (now the top GHG emitter), India, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea, Indonesia, South Africa, and Iran. These eight nations accounted for 30.1 percent of global GHG emissions in 2000; the share of GHG emissions was 40 percent for the developing, non-Annex I countries. The developing countries have been increasing their shares; in 1990, the relative share was 32 percent. For the year 2000, twelve of the top twenty countries were Annex I countries, including seven of the top ten emitters. In 2000, the Annex I countries accounted for about 60 percent of the top-twenty GHG emissions. The number-one emitters of each group were the top two emitters overall: the leading developing, non-Annex I country, China, and the leading developed, Annex I country, the United States, now the second highest of the top-twenty GHG emitters. Together, China and the United States account for over one-third of total global GHG emissions.

While the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Gulf States have the highest GHG emissions, data from 2000 show that--of the top twenty emitters--those with highest per capita emissions were the Annex I countries. Australia, the United States, and Canada ranked fifth, seventh, and ninth, respectively. Their per capita emissions (7.0, 6.6, and 6.1 metric tons per person) were approximately double the emissions of the highest-ranked developing country in the top twenty (South Korea, at 3.0 metric tons), and they were six times those of China (1.1 metric tons). Of note, the population density of Iran is 16 persons per square kilometer in a country that is relatively small.

It is indeed a paradox that OPEC countries concerned with manipulating the production of petroleum products so as to affect global financial markets have expressed concern with green energy. In January, 2009, Iran inaugurated its first solar energy power plant, adding a modest 250 kilowatts of solar energy to the country's energy grid. The power plant uses parabolic mirrored troughs to gather sunlight where it is used to produce steam and generate electricity. This solar thermal plant is part of 4,075 small-scale solar thermal installations throughout Iran, which comprise 3,781 solar water heaters for residential use, and 294 public baths that are heated with solar thermal energy. Putting an economic value on renewable resources makes Iran, with its abundance of sunlight, rich in "solar energy potential." Iran took its first step toward the large-scale realization of that potential with the inauguration of its first solar energy plant, which was constructed with domestic materials and labor in Shiraz.

References

1. Ardehali, M. M. "Rural Energy Development in Iran: Non-renewable and Renewable Resources." Renewable Energy 31, no. 5 (April, 2006): 655-662.

2. Axworthy, M. A History of Iran: Empire of the Mind. New York: Basic Books, 2008.

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