TEHRAN — Masoumeh Ebtekar, chief of Iran’s Department of Environment, has highlighted the country’s “active role” in the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP21, which was held in Paris from November 30 to December 12.

Representatives from the foreign, energy, and oil ministries as well as the Department of Environment were present in the event, Ebtekar said in a press conference on Tuesday.

“In some cases, Iran played an advisory role to the conference as well,” she said.

She stated that the ‘low-carbon economy’ as one of the government’s schemes in the sixth five-year national development plan (2015-2021) was an evidence for Iran’s attempt to fight the climate change.

****** Iran 9th biggest greenhouse gas emitter

Meanwhile, Majid Shafiepour, head of the Iranian delegation to the UNFCCC, said Iran ranks ninth in the world in terms of greenhouse gas emission.

Shafiepour explained that in proportion to Iran’s population and the country’s share of the global GDP, its greenhouse gas emission is high.

“We constitute one percent of the world’s population and our GDP is 1.2 percent of the global economy. So, generating 1.67 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas is too much for us.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, he said that the Paris deal must be approved by the parliaments in all countries and at least 55 of them should have their parliament approvals for the deal to be implemented.

MQ/P