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Iran frets over carbon dioxide emissions rates

CO2 rates rise in Iran an average 6 percent a year.

By Daniel J. Graeber

TEHRAN, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Iran's rate of carbon dioxide emissions is alarming, and it's time to start following the international community's lead, an industry official said.

A review from the World Bank finds Iranian emissions far outpacing its counterparts in Central Asia and the Middle East. Mohammad Reza Katouzian, the director of Iran's Research Institute of the Petroleum Industry, said the country was in the top tier in terms of CO2 emissions.

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"Today, a great number of companies and businesses have defined a specific strategy for reducing the release of carbon dioxide, a path that we should follow, too," he said in comments published Friday by the Iranian Oil Ministry.

Analysis from the U.S. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center finds CO2 emissions from Iran have increased at an average rate of 6.3 percent per year since 1954. Production of crude oil and petroleum products account for nearly half of those emissions, which scientists have linked to climate change.

Members of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce told the Oil Ministry's news website Shana last week the government should work to push oil revenue slowly out of the national budget.

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On Wednesday, Tehran said non-oil product exports earned Iran $27 billion during the first five months of a calendar year beginning March 21.

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