TEHRAN- The opening ceremony of cooperation between Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology of Iran and the Federal Ministry for the Environment and Nature Conservation on low carbon economy and implementation of integrated energy efficiency market was held in Parsian Evin Hotel in Tehran on November 21.

The ceremony sought to provide information of main Iranian stakeholders of the project, its planned activities and its potential input to the development of a market for energy efficiency and environment in Iran.

The German Ambassador to Tehran Michael Klor-Berchtold, Iranian Vice-President for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari, Director of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Africa and Middle East in German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety Jurgen Keinhorst, Manager of the consulting company of DIW Econ Petra Opitz, and several Iranian experts involved in the project attended the ceremony.

Iran to expand energy efficiency market

Making the remarks during the event, Sattari noted that the project has been designed based on the available infrastructure in the country and will be implemented according to Iran’s energy consumption regulations.  

“We plan to create a new energy market with novel models in Iran,” he announced.

This project can help us find a better understanding of our energy market and create new start-ups and knowledge-based companies in this sector to tackle our environmental problems such as air pollution, he added.

€3.5m of German budget

“The German Ministry for Environment will fully back this project by 2021 and providing up to €3.5 million of budget, which is a remarkable value and the result of Iran-Germany collaboration," the German Ambassador announced.

He referred to the several activities of German Ministry for Environment in Iran as of the implementation of the JCPOA in January 2015 till the present day, announcing his government’s comprehensive support for implementation of integrated energy efficiency projects in Iran.   

Klor-Berchtold, also, referred to the significance of JCPOA and Germany’s full support for preserving it.

Naming U.S. unilateral sanctions against Iran illegal, he underscored that Iran has fulfilled its commitments to JCPOA.

“A German delegation, comprised of small and medium-sized enterprises traveled to Iran just a week after the withdrawal of the U.S. form the nuclear deal,” he said, “which was a positive signal for Germany’s support for JCPOA.”

The 28 European countries have unanimously backed Iran and their commitment to the nuclear deal, he noted.

“We are presently working hard on Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) [which allows European business people working with to bypass newly re-imposed U.S. sanctions],” he said, “This is not an easy job to do and the way is totally unknown to us but the job is being done and we hope to achieve practical results, soon.”

“I assure you that we will find a solution,” he vowed.

DIW Econ in Iran

Established in July 2007, DIW Econ is a subsidiary company of DIW Berlin – German Institute for Economic Research. It is an economics consulting company with a clear focus on business clients and internationals.

Within the past two years DIW experts and officials have traveled to Iran to investigate and discuss the possibly of low carbon economy projects with Iranian officials.

In cooperation with the Iranian partners DIW could elaborate a concept for practical implementation of Article 12 of the Energy Efficiency Directive (that requires that Member States (MSs) take appropriate measures to promote and facilitate an efficient use of energy by small energy customers including domestic customers and small and medium-sized enterprises) and the Bylaws on the market for energy efficiency and environment (M3E).

It initiated a continuous stakeholder dialogue regarding these instruments and supporting the main stakeholders in order to practically implement M3E.

DIW analyzed the energy efficiency potential of areas in PSEEZ in Assaluyeh and developed business and financing plans for at least two projects to be eligible under Article 12.

It, also, developed bankable pre-feasibility studies for energy efficiency projects eligible for Article 12 and for the derived market for Energy and Environment and elaboration of financing concepts for these projects.

After Assaluyeh, the German company plans to inaugurate similar projects in the southwestern Iranian city of Bushehr, its officials announced during the ceremony.

HJ/MA