The country’s environmental ranking is 18 among other countries in the world, and we rank 7 in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, he stated.

The greenhouse gas emissions in the country should be measured annually and technical experts should submit their reports in this regard, he said, highlighting that plans should be prepared to reduce the emissions.

The climate change convention and implementation program are other plans of the Department of Environment, as announced by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the issues of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, adequate consumption, and increasing energy efficiency.

Energy consumption in our country is three times the world average, and considering that 94 percent of our electricity is supplied by the combustion of fossil fuels, we should move towards renewable electricity as soon as possible in order to reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, he emphasized.

Stating that sanctions are one of the reasons for the non-fulfillment of greenhouse gas emission reduction programs, he said that we expect international bodies to act according to their duties in this matter and have a cross-border perspective on the environment.

Referring to the plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, he said that one of those is to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. In this regard, the Ministry of Energy has promised to increase the capacity of electricity produced from renewables to 10,000 megawatts by 2026.

Iran has the best potential for using solar energy, but unfortunately, less than one percent of electricity is provided by renewable sources, he noted.

He went on to state that 17 countries in the world are facing water challenges, of which 12 are located in West Asia and Africa. Iran is also among the 9 vulnerable countries that are affected by the adverse effects of climate change, and this shows the importance of the issue, and we must minimize the level of vulnerability under the programs.

Migration from the central plateau to the northern provinces of the country is one of the worrying effects of climate change. The northern part of the country also has a limited ecological capacity, and if we move too late, we will lose the north of the country as well, he said.

Iran ranks 133 among 180 countries in EPI

The 2022 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) ranked Iran 133 among 180 countries on climate change performance, environmental health, and ecosystem vitality.

The EPI provides a data-driven summary of the state of sustainability around the world. Using 40 performance indicators across 11 issue categories, the EPI ranks 180 countries on a national scale of how close countries are to established environmental policy targets.

The EPI offers a scorecard that highlights leaders and laggards in environmental performance and provides practical guidance for countries that aspire to move toward a sustainable future. Overall EPI rankings indicate which countries are best addressing the environmental challenges that every nation faces.

In the 2020 EPI, Iran’s rank was in a better position, but due to changes in indicators and calculation methods, these two versions are not comparable.

Indicators that have had a significant negative trend over 10 years include the rangeland loss index (-39.60), CO emission index (-20.80), and greenhouse gas intensity (-24.40), and indicators with the best performance trend related to black carbon growth rate (63), nitrogen dioxide growth rate (87.30) in climate policy category, NOx growth rate (55), sulfur dioxide growth rate (40.70), sea acidification (47.90) and fish stock status (20.60) in the ecosystem vitality class.

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The planet’s northern polar region recorded its second hottest 12-month period to September 2020, with the warmest temperatures since 1900 all now occurring within the past seven years, according to an annual Arctic report card issued by the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa).

The Arctic is heating up at a rate around double that of the global average, due to the human-caused climate crisis.

Some places were abnormally hot in 2020, with parts of Siberia 9F (5C) above the long-term average in the first half of the year. In June, the Siberian town of Verkhoyansk reached 100.4°F, the hottest temperature ever recorded north of the Arctic Circle.

Meanwhile, Arctic sea ice shrank to its second-lowest summer extent in the 42-year satellite record in 2020, with the loss of ice and surging ocean heat causing a burst of ocean plant growth and altered behavior of bowhead whales.

On land, fierce wildfires tore through parts of the Arctic region while the melting of permafrost and retreat of ice is increasingly turning parts of the Arctic green with sprouting vegetation.

“It has been yet another year of breathtaking changes in the Arctic,” said Jennifer Francis, the senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center. “Temperatures in Siberia have been off the charts most of the year, and the Arctic passages have been open for shipping much longer than any previous year.”

The vast Greenland ice sheet lost mass again in 2020, albeit at a slower rate than last year, the report card states.

The continual melting of the world’s glaciers is fueling sea level rise, threatening coastal cities with flooding. Scientists have been closely monitoring the ice sheet, as well as its equivalent in Antarctica, to ascertain how the huge changes underway will impact the environment.

A tumultuous year in the Arctic has seen the last fully intact ice shelf in Canada collapse after losing more than 40% of its area in just two days while thawing permafrost caused a disastrous oil spill in Russia after a fuel tank collapsed.

The latest scientific warning over the changing Arctic will provide further urgency to international climate talks to mark the fifth anniversary of the Paris climate agreement.

“The Arctic is transitioning from a predominantly frozen state into an entirely different climate, due to emissions of greenhouse gases,” said Laura Landrum, the associate scientist at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory.

“If we do not bring emission rates down, Arctic climate will change so significantly that this year’s record low sea ice extents will look large and record warm temperatures will appear cool compared to what we will experience in the future.”

Zack Labe, a postdoctoral researcher at Colorado State University, said the Arctic is “yelling at us to pay attention”. He added: “Unless we slow global warming by systematically reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, the chances of our first ‘ice-free’ Arctic summer will continue to increase. This rapid climate change in the Arctic will continue to have consequences for the entire Earth system.”

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