A legal framework for combating climate change in Iran: Commitments to sustainable development and pollution reduction

The failure of the UN’s series of international climate change conferences has contributed to increasing violations of societies’ fundamental rights to a sustainable climate in various parts of the world, particularly in developing countries. Iran has also been affected by the adverse consequences of climate change, due in part to the ineffectiveness of the international legal system and insufficient attention within the domestic legal system. Accordingly, this study aims to develop a legal pattern for combating climate change in Iran, with a view to reducing environmental pollution and advancing sustainable development. The research is organized into three operational phases and employs a Likert-scale instrument and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) model. The most significant climate-change-related impacts that undermine public rights in Iran include declining livelihoods, the recurrence of regional dust storms, and weakening production and economic cycles due to reduced industrial access to energy resources. Among the most important mechanisms for addressing climate change in Iran are the development and strengthening of incentive-based guidelines by the Ministry of Energy for the injection of green energy, as well as the allocation of financial resources for the revitalization and effective implementation of the Clean Air Law. Finally, in view of the extensive scope of the impacts of climate change, this study emphasizes that the realization of the aforementioned mechanisms requires the adoption of two fundamental strategies: first, strengthening regulatory frameworks and enforcement mechanisms within the domestic legal system in response to climate change; and second, the establishment and institutionalization of a joint regional climate organization.