Media Guide: Air Pollution in Iran
/By AIC Senior Research Fellow Andrew Lumsden
AIC’s 2018 “Myth vs. Fact” on Iran’s Geography challenged the myth that Iran, like many of its neighbors, is primarily a barren, desert land, and explains that the country instead features a very vibrant and ecologically diverse environment. As we noted then, Iran is facing serious environmental degradation, in large part due to global climate change and decades of resource mismanagement. However, there is one factor, almost entirely manmade, which is proving rapidly, obviously and devastatingly consequential for Iran’s environment and society, pollution.
The United Nations defines pollution as the presence of a substance, including heat, in “environmental media,” (the air, water or land) which produces “undesirable environmental effects” due to its “nature, location, or quantity.” Iranian officials have identified air pollution in the country as an issue of particular and pressing concern. Former President Hassan Rouhani even described it as a “monster” akin to terrorism in posing “grave danger” to Iran and the world.
This Media Guide will discuss some key aspects of the problem of air pollution in Iran; the areas most affected, the contributing factors and responses from civil society and the state.
How Severe is Air Pollution in Iran?
Nearly all of Iran’s urban population, which is about 75% of the total, is exposed to levels of air pollution which exceed guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO). In recent years, Iranian cities have consistently ranked among the most polluted in the world, with some at times topping the list entirely. Ahvaz, a city in Iran’s Khuzestan Province, near the Iraqi border, was ranked by the WHO as the world’s most polluted city in 2011. Ahvaz’s average Air Quality Index (AQI), a measurement of the concentration of hazardous airborne gasses and particles, stood at 372. A healthy AQI range is considered to be between 0 and 50, with 200 being the maximum for healthy members of the general public.
In 2016, another Iranian city, Zabol, near the Afghan border, was labeled by the WHO as the world’s most polluted. Its air contained a particle concentration exceeding the WHO’s guidelines tenfold. In fact, a study published by Preventive Medicine found that cycling for just 30 minutes in Zabol’s polluted air would negate all the potential benefits of the exercise.
Tehran, Iran’s capital, also struggles significantly with air pollution. The city overall is ranked twelfth among the world’s major cities in terms of air pollution, surpassed only by Cairo, Egypt and several heavily industrial cities in China and India. Tehran’s Air Quality Control Company (AQCC) reports that according to data collected between 2011 and 2015, Tehran only experiences a healthy AQI for less than 30 days each year. Additionally, data from 2015 and 2016 reveals that between the months of April and October, there were no days in which Tehran’s AQI fell within a healthy range.
Between December 2020 and January 2021, the city experienced a significant surge in air pollution, with the AQI hovering between 200 and over 300. Although Tehran routinely experiences bouts of severe air pollution during the winter months, this year’s surge in particular has caught the attention of environmentalists and officials alike. Massoud Farahmand, a Tehran environmental expert said that although spikes in air pollution occur in the city every year “the situation has turned extremely worrying.” Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, a powerful ultra-conservative political figure and chairman of the Guardian Council, a body which approves or vetoes all laws passed by Parliament, also called the pollution situation “worrying” and called for relevant government agencies to act.
These cities, along with other major Iranian urban centers such as Isfahan and Shiraz all have about 350 days of medically hazardous air each year. In fact, in 2014, it was found that even in Mashhad, the home city of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, healthy air qualities are observed on only about 44 days per year.
What Are The Causes of This Problem?
Air pollution in Iran is not attributable to any single factor, and its causes and catalysts vary significantly across the country.
Khuzestan and Sistan-Balochistan
For example, in Ahvaz and the surrounding Khuzestan Province, air pollution is primarily caused by gas flaring, a process by which gasses released during the oil extraction process are burned away. Ahvaz is home to Iran’s largest oil fields, and in 2017, a local official for Iran’s Department of Environment reported that more than 7.5 million cubic meters of gas are burned at Khuzestan’s oil fields each day.
In addition to fossil-fuel related pollutants, Khuzestan is also being subjected to increasingly severe dust storms. In 2017, the concentration of fine dust particles in Ahvaz was found to be nearly six times the national average. Other cities in Khuzestan such as Abadan, Behbahan, Masjed Soleyman and Shadegan have dust concentrations between 10 and 40 times the national average.
Not only is Khuzestan in close proximity to the vast deserts of Saudi Arabia, its wetlands have also been drying due to changing rain patterns, government river diversion projects and, the Iranian government alleges, dam construction in Turkey and Iraq. Drying wetlands leave exposed soil and salt which then can be lifted up by the wind and contribute to dust pollution.
It is this same phenomenon which is the primary cause of severe air pollution in Zabol. Local environmental officials note that pollution in that city is not related to any kind of industry but weather patterns and escalating dust storms. Zabol and the surrounding Sistan-Balochistan Province are on the receiving end of the so-called Levar winds, strong seasonal winds which blow from Central Asia to the Arabian Sea between May and October. The drying Hamoun wetlands, which have nearly disappeared due to drought and climate change, combined with these winds have significantly exacerbated dust storms near Zabol.
During the Levar winds, Zabol can experience airborne particle concentrations of up to 20-30 times levels considered safe under WHO guidelines. Therefore, it is estimated that Zabol’s air is hazardous for breathing on about 90% of days during this summer period.
Tehran
In Tehran, the causes of air pollution are far more complex. 70% of air pollutants in the city are produced by vehicles. There are an estimated 4.24 million vehicles operating on the streets of Tehran, and among vehicles, 85% of pollutants are emitted by “heavy duty vehicles (HDVs)” such as buses, minibuses and trucks, although they constitute only about 2% of the vehicles on Tehran’s streets.
This is because unlike other vehicles, HDVs use diesel fuel, a more potent pollutant than fuels used in smaller vehicles, and a significant proportion of HDVs currently in use in Tehran are more than 20 years old ( 5% of municipal buses, 25% of trucks, 35% of private sector buses and 55% of minibuses). This means that they have engines which produce far more pollutants than more modern vehicles.
While their emissions pale in comparison with those of HDVs, Tehran’s cars and motorcycles are still significant contributors to the city’s poor air quality. 22% of pick-ups, 9% of passenger cars and 5% of taxis are over 20 years old and have carburetor engines which are far more emissive than newer engines and release gasses which can become toxic when exposed to sunlight and nitrogen in the atmosphere.
“Energy conversion” operations have also been labeled as major emitters in Tehran, contributing nearly a quarter of the city’s air pollutants. “Energy conversion” operations refer to power plants and fuel refineries. In fact, power plants in particular have been labeled as the cause of the particularly severe air condition in Tehran between December 2020 and January 2021. Tehran’s AQCC has accused nearby power plants of burning mazut, a low quality fuel oil usually processed to produce diesel oil. When burnt, mazut produces highly toxic gasses. While officials including Tehran’s provincial governor initially denied the reports, Iran’s Oil Minister confessed, saying that officials had “no other option than consuming mazut.”
According to Issa Kalantari, head of Iran’s Department of Environment, mazut is usually exported, but due to U.S. sanctions, some officials have decided instead to use it for domestic energy production. Kalantari also lamented decisions by national legal officials to prohibit provincial governments from banning the practice.
In addition to manmade factors, in terms of pollution, Tehran is also a victim of its geography. The city is surrounded by the Alborz Mountain Range, which helps to trap pollutants. Furthermore, during the winter months, Tehran experiences temperature inversion, a phenomenon which limits the upward movement of air meaning pollutants remain more highly concentrated and closer to the surface.
The World Bank notes that “rapid population growth (partially due to migration from other cities), industrial development, urbanization, and increasing fuel consumption,” mean that effectively addressing Tehran’s air quality problems in the coming years “ will not be straight forward.”
Kaveh Madani, former deputy head of Iran’s Department of Environment, adds that economic sanctions on Iran make combating air pollution all the more difficult. He argues that sanctions have restricted access to clean energy technology, international funds for retrofitting highly emissive vehicles and machinery and forced Iran to rely more heavily on pollution-producing and environmentally extractive means to achieve economic growth.
How Is Air Pollution Affecting Iranians?
The head of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences’ Air Pollution Research Center reports that air pollution is the cause of some 40,000 deaths in Iran each year. Moreover, Iran’s Ministry of Health reports that between four and five thousand of these annual deaths come from the city of Tehran alone.
Death is not the only consequence of air pollution. Pollution is a major contributor to the onset of conditions such as asthma, lung cancer, Alzheimer’s disease ,Parkinson’s disease and autism. Recent studies have also found high correlation between air pollution and increased risks for strokes and miscarriages. Iran’s Health Ministry reports that the prevalence of asthma in the country is on the rise, with 11% of children and 9% of adults suffering from the disease.
Mahdi Najmi, Director of the Iranian Health Ministry’ Asthma and Allergy Department told state-run media in 2018 that asthma prevalence is growing in notoriously polluted Khuzestan Province, at a rate twice the national average. A private medical study conducted that year also found that on top of the roughly 9% of Khuzestan residents suffering from confirmed cases of asthma, an additional 19% experience “asthma-like symptoms.” In Sistan and Balochistan, where Zabol is located, mortality rates of asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) exceed the national average.
Air pollution is also exacting serious economic costs from Iran. In 2017, Mohammad Reza Tabesh, chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s Committee on the Environment estimated that air pollution costs Iran about US$20 billion each year. The World Bank notes that estimates like these tend to refer primarily to costs associated with treating health problems related to pollution and argues therefore, they may drastically underrepresent the true economic costs. The economic toll of other consequences of air pollution, according to the Bank, should be considered including: “reduced agricultural productivity,” “long-term damage to cultural sites and infrastructure,” and “education-days lost because of closed schools.”
What Is Being Done to Address The Problem of Pollution?
Iran has had legislation aimed at controlling air pollution since at least 1955. Over the past decade, multiple new anti-pollution measures have been introduced at the national level and in large cities across Iran.
National Government Initiatives
The most recent of such legislation is the Clean Air Law of 2017. The law sets new emissions standards for vehicles, including those newly manufactured or imported. Among other provisions, the law calls for annual inspections of vehicles in use to ensure compliance with emissions standards, requires that industrial facilities designate at least 10% of their property as green space, prohibits the burning of industrial, household and agricultural waste in public areas, calls for expansion of urban mass transit systems, and modernization of existing public transport fleets. The Law also designates specific actions to be taken by 35 government agencies. For example, the Ministry of Agriculture is to implement anti-desertification measures on some 300,000 hectares of land known to be contributing to dust storms. The Energy Ministry is tasked with expanding production of energy from clean, renewable sources as opposed to fossil fuels. Also, Iran’s state-run media is responsible for raising public awareness about air pollution.
In accordance with the Law, in 2018, the Rouhani Administration issued new regulations, establishing specific pollutant emissions limits on several major industries, including power plants, refineries and manufacturers of cement, petrochemicals and heavy metals, among others. Also in 2018, Parliament amended the Clean Air Law, to include private sector actors in the law’s anti-pollution initiatives.
Iran has also reduced fuel subsidies—a move expected to encourage public use of mass transit as opposed to private vehicles—, improved the quality of vehicle fuels by reducing the use of polluting additives such as lead, benzene and sulphur, and expanded the use of natural gas and vehicle fuel. Iran has the most natural gas powered vehicles in the world, with some three million vehicles using the clean-burning fuel.
Local Initiatives
Steps to reduce air pollution have also been taken at the local level. In 2014, the Tehran City Council mandated that the city’s public bus fleet of 6,000 be retrofitted with Diesel Particulate Filters (DPFs). DPFs trap particles exhausted by diesel engines such as ash and soot which would otherwise be expelled into the air. In 2018, the Rouhani Administration introduced new regulations for eight Iranian cities, including Tehran, requiring that all diesel powered vehicles be DPF retrofitted and that DPFs are included in new vehicles.
In 2014, the city government of Tehran began incentivizing residents to purchase electric motorcycles as opposed to gas fueled ones. Motorcycles make up 18% of all registered vehicles in Tehran and are the city’s second largest emitters of air pollutants. Tehran residents who opt for electric motorcycles are provided with a subsidy or no-interest loan from the city. Though initially met with tepid public reaction, analysts expect the program to draw more interest in the coming years, especially given Iran's 2016 ban on the production of carburetor-equipped motorcycles.
Also, since 2016, Tehran municipal authorities have implemented what is called a “Low Emission Zone (LEZ).” Under this scheme, parts of Tehran are designated off-limits to all vehicles which have not undergone annual inspections and found to be compliant with new emissions standards. The zone is monitored with security cameras and violators are fined. Although initially only in force during certain hours, a 24-hour LEZ program began in 2018. It is estimated that the LEZ program is responsible for a 44% decrease in black carbon exhaust in Tehran’s atmosphere.
Non-governmental actors have also been instrumental in formulating and launching anti-pollution initiatives. In 2015, a group of environmentalists in the city of Arak, south of Tehran, created a campaign called “Car-Free Tuesdays,” encouraging people to walk or use environmentally friendly means of transport once a week. The campaign soon caught the attention of government officials. Then-Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar endorsed the plan in 2016 and Isfahan, Iran’s third largest city, codified the movement, banning vehicles from one of the city’s main thoroughfares, from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tehran’s mayor took part in the campaign in 2018 and announced plans to expand cycling lanes across the city and create a citywide bike sharing program. Mohammad Darvish, an official with Iran’s Department of Environment says that various cities in each province have already adopted the “Car-Free Tuesdays” campaign, albeit with “varying levels of commitment.”
Some civil society anti-pollution initiatives have been far more contentious. In Khuzestan Province in particular, mass protests by residents demanding government action to address air pollution, alongside a myriad of socio-economic problems which plague the region, are common. In 2017, large demonstrations took place in Ahvaz, prompted by weeks of dust storms which also resulted in power failures across 11 Khuzestan cities. In 2018, anti-pollution protests in Abadan, another city in Khuzestan, resulted in clashes between security forces and demonstrators. Mass demonstrations, also related to air pollution and water shortages have also taken place this year. Since July, Iranians have taken to the streets in Khuzestan and several other provinces including Tehran and Isfahan. According to Human Rights Watch, authorities have opened fire at demonstrations and so far, at least nine protesters have been killed.
Have These Initiatives Been Successful?
While some of Iran’s anti-pollution initiatives such as Tehran’s Low Emission Zone have had tangible success, most have so far stalled. Firstly, implementation of the country’s landmark 2017 Clean Air Law has been stymied by many of the responsible state agencies. In January 2021, Shina Ansari, head of Tehran’s municipal Department of Environment and Sustainable Development in an interview with state media, lamented that despite three years having passed since the promulgation of the Clean Air Law, the tenets of the legislation “have not been followed up with priority by the responsible agencies." The Tehran Times also reported this and found that restrictions on old and heavily emissive vehicles, meant to be enforced by local police departments, are only being taken seriously by authorities in a few major cities.
While she acknowledges that some of these failures can be attributed to economic sanctions, Ansari argues that ultimately, enforcing anti-pollution legislation and regulations has simply not been treated as a priority by state officials.
Recent DPF retrofitting regulations and initiatives have also not been successfully implemented. National authorities have not been allocating sufficient funds to the effort. In 2018, Tehran city officials reported that they have been unable to complete the 2014 DPF retrofitting project for the city’s public busses. Zahra Sadr-Azam Noori, a member of the City Council’s Heath Commission said that only 80 of the more than 8000 vehicles the city planned to retrofit have been serviced. The World Bank estimates that full DPF retrofitting in Tehran alone will cost between US$46 million to US$91 million. Due to the country’s current economic situation, it is considered unlikely these funding requests will soon be met.
Future Outlook
The massive tectonic shift which took place in Iranian politics over the past year is likely to have a powerfully determinative impact on the future of anti-pollution efforts. After eight years, the politically moderate administration of former President Rouhani has come to an end. He was succeeded by the far more conservative, Ebrahim Raisi. Conservatives also have a commanding majority in Parliament and the Supreme Leader is considered a hardline conservative.
It is important to note that unlike their counterparts in some other countries, Iranian conservatives have, at least verbally, not been dismissive of environmental issues. In 2014, Ayatollah Khamenei called for all Iranians to “attach great significance to the environment.” In 2016, he issued a fatwa (religious ruling) denouncing the use of vehicles which contribute to pollution. In 2018. Khamenei approved a bid by the Rouhani Administration to allot US$150 million of money from Iran’s National Development Fund to address air pollution in Khuzestan. Conservative media outlets have also been vocal about the pollution problem and have blasted the Rouhani Administration for not doing more, including expanding use of renewable energy.
Despite their rhetoric however, conservatives have done little to actually address the problem of air pollution. In fact, Iranian security forces have often targeted environmentalists for harassment, surveillance and even arrest. Kaveh Madani, for example, was forced to resign his post as deputy head of the Department of Environment in 2018, after intense political pressures from conservative hardliners for his environmental activism. Authorities particularly objected to environmentalists’ necessary ties to organizations and colleagues outside Iran.
Severe air pollution is a dagger pointed at the heart of people of all political persuasions, and if left untreated, will only worsen. In fact, during a bout of severe air pollution in December 2019, Tehran’s mayor said that had it not been for well-timed rains, the city would have had to have been evacuated. It is important that all sides come together to formulate and properly implement comprehensive solutions.
Such solutions will require both rigorous enforcement and oversight of current environmental laws and regulations, as well as financial and technical cooperation between Iranians and international partners. It will then be particularly important for the incoming Raisi Administration to work in good faith to secure restoration of the 2015 nuclear deal and reduction of sanctions, and allow environmental activists and experts to continue their work unimpeded.
