A framework to identify and overcome barriers in launching sustainable energy projects in the Iranian industrial sector

Abstract

Iranian resistance economy policy embodies a strong focus on sustainable development and, respectively, in energy sustainability. A major issue in implementing the policy is how to facilitate the deployment of sustainability initiatives and eliminate existing barriers. This paper presents a framework for identifying and attempting overcoming these barriers using soft systems methodology (SSM). The proposed framework also integrates other methods and is called compound sustainable energy launching (CSEL). This multi-methodology framework aims not only eliminating energy sustainability barriers but also an efficient assignment of capital investment on such initiatives. Applicability of the framework is analysed on three Iranian companies of the industrial sector, for which main conclusions are presented and discussed.