Expounding the Place of Iran in the World Based on the Sustainable Development: An Environmental Approach

The preservation and protection of the environment is not only concerning one or two countries, but it is also a phenomenon which the whole world will be affected by. Applying the Delphi method and with the use of experts’ opinions, six indicators have been considered effective in the sustainable environmental development status of Iran. In order to study the sustainable environmental developmentin terms of the six selected indicators (per capita internal fresh water resources, water productivity, energy source usage, electricity generation sources, access to electricity, CO2 emissions) for 186 countries the data were extracted from the World Bank. This research aims to investigate the status of Iran based on the six selected indicators in the environment field and to define the place of Iran among other countries of the world using the clustering method. Then it tries to recognize the most similar countries to Iran during the last 18 years in terms of their sustainable environmental developmentstatus. The findings of the research show that from the perspective of sustainable environmental development indicators Iran was in the same clustering with Vietnam the most since they have come into one category 13 times during 1996 and 2016; and after that the being in the same clustering was related to Iraq and Armenia as they have been in one category 12 times; and 11 times with Venezuela and 9 times with Syria, Argentina, Egypt and Albania. Besides, after observing the selected six indicators of sustainable environmental development, it was determined that from the aspect of the indicators of “CO2 emissions” and “per capita internal fresh water” Iran is not in a good condition among the countries which have been in the same clustering with. Eventually, based on the findings of this research, some suggestions are presented for future studies.