The Impact of Regulations on the Export of Iran’s Environmental Goods

This article examines two aspects of the effects of environmental regulations on Iran’s export of environmental goods. First, the effects of environmental regulations on export destinations, and secondly, the effects of Iran’s environmental regulations. The study method is using panel data from 1996 to 2021 in the framework of the gravity model and the generalized least squares (GLS) and Poisson maximum likelihood (PPML) methods. The energy intensity index was introduced as an alternative index for the environmental regulation variable in the model. The results show that the milder environmental regulations of trading partners have a positive effect on the export of Iran’s environmental goods. But Iran’s environmental regulations have not played a role in increasing the export and competitiveness of environmental goods of this country, and Porter’s hypothesis is not true for the export of this category of goods. In this way, the development of Iran’s export of environmental goods is not affected by the implementation of its strict environmental laws and policies. It is suggested that in order to develop the export of environmental goods, it should be placed on the agenda of Iran’s foreign trade affairs trustees in order to develop a road map and use the capacity of environmental cooperation with export destinations with milder environmental regulations.