Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Associate Professor of International and Energy law Faculty of law and Political Science, University of Tehran
2
Iran, Tehran, North Kargar, 18th street
10.22050/pbr.2026.585790.1440
Abstract
This article examines carbon pricing in the oil and gas sector from a comparative legal and policy perspective,
with particular emphasis on the feasibility of designing a framework for Iran. The study is based on a doctrinal
and comparative analysis of climate law instruments, carbon pricing mechanisms, and sectorial regulation in the
European Union, Canada, and Iran. It argues that carbon pricing is not merely an economic instrument, but a
governance mechanism through which the external costs of greenhouse gas emissions are internalized in energy
markets and translated into legal obligations for high-emitting sectors. The European Union has relied mainly on
an emissions trading system supported by monitoring, reporting, verification, auctioning revenues, and low-
carbon funds. Canada has adopted a federal pricing architecture that combines a fuel charge with an output-based
pricing system, while also developing sector-specific rules for oil and gas. Iran, by contrast, has no
comprehensive and enforceable carbon pricing regime, although its domestic laws, development plans, subsidy
reform policies, and climate-related regulations contain preliminary legal capacities. The article concludes that
Iran should not transplant foreign models mechanically. Instead, it should develop a gradual, sector-specific
carbon pricing framework for oil and gas, supported by reliable emissions data, institutional coordination,
revenue recycling, and social safeguards.
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