Iran is a country endowed with rich natural resources, including high amounts of fossil and renewable energies and a young and growing population. If properly utilised and appreciated, these are key assets for a bright future. However, due to low energy prices, subsidised energy consumption and other factors today Iran has a high per-capita energy consumption and very low economic output per unit of energy consumed. Furthermore, low energy prices and subsidies constitute a major hurdle to innovation and economic development, have a negative impact on the public budget and foster environmental pollution.

The book shows that the implementation of a sustainable energy strategy in Iran provides the opportunity for further economic and social development. In this context, the aim of the book is to provide some of the analyses needed to rethink the country's energy strategy and to grasp the chances. The authors hope to make a contribution to the emerging and rapidly growing discussion within Iran as well as between Iran and other countries such as Germany on better energy alternatives and the respective opportunities for investment, innovation and modernisation. The work presented in the book should provide ideas for such opportunities and create a vision of how this could contribute towards developing a more sustainable, efficient and prosperous future energy system for Iran.

The book is based on long-term academic cooperation between Iranian researchers from several universities and the Iranian Energy Association and German researchers from the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, Büro Ö-quadrat and the University of Osnabrück. The initiative started in 2003 to assemble acquired knowledge on strategies regarding sustainable energy and make the most recent and up-to-date research accessible to Iran and its scientific and political institutions. The book in hand is an important result of the collaboration. So its publication lends itself to taking stock of these twelve years of continued cooperation.