Jordan is located in the western part of Asia and the northwest of the Arabian Peninsula. The geographical environment of Jordan is mainly land regions. The desert area accounts for more than 80% of the country (Szczepanski, 2018). It is also a typical landlocked country. The Dead Sea is a world-famous saltwater lake with a lake surface below sea level of nearly 400 meters, the lowest point on the world’s land (Pletcher, 2018). Jordan’s land area is small, resources are scarce, and the national economy mainly depends on the income of tourism and crude oil.
The “Dead Sea” is the deepest and saltiest lake in the world, which attracts tourists worldwide. In a desert country like Jordan, the supply of drinking water and domestic water is an important challenge for the country. A large part of it is imported from Syria. Water has become a valuable resource for Jordan far beyond the role of oil.
In addition to water resources, Jordan is also facing serious shortages of energy. On May 11, 2010, the Jordanian and Estonian governments signed an agreement allowing Eesti Energia company for the exploration and processing of Jordanian oil shale (Mason, Mu’taz, & Al-Widyan, 2009). Oil shale is considered to be the main source of unconventional oil in the world, more than twice the amount of traditional oil reserves. The agreement strengthens Estonian Energy’s position as the world’s largest oil shale producer and represents a significant advance in Jordan’s energy supply.
Jordan has the world’s seventh largest oil shale reserve with proven reserves of more than 40 billion tons. In addition to the Estonian energy company, other large companies are also investigating the possibility of oil shale mining in Jordan, including Shell, Petrobras and Total (Mason, Mu’taz, & Al-Widyan, 2009). The Estonian Energy Company’s oil shale project mainly includes the following two projects: Petroleum Project with the daily production of 38 000 barrels of crude oil; and Electric Power project with the direct combustion power generation capacity of 900 MW (Tashima, 2011).
In terms of clean and sustainable energy sources, Jordan has made limited efforts. Jordan uses solar direct steam generation to develop the world’s largest Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) project, and US company Ausra will provide a reflective solar steam boiler for the country (Dorn, 2008). The solar thermal power generation (CSP) project under development is located in Ma’an, Jordan, with a generating capacity of 100 MW. According to the Jordanian Minister of Energy in 2015, Spain’s Elecnor company have won the bid from six bidders and will undertake the Ma’an 75 MW wind power project. The total investment of the project is US$150 million.
In addition, he also revealed that 12 local and international companies are competing for the Ma’an 75 MW solar power project (Mason, Mu’taz, & Al-Widyan, 2009). According to the Energy Strategic Plan, renewable energy generation will account for 10% of the energy mix by 2020.
Since 2008, Jordan has officially implemented a new strategy for sustainable development. This strategy was planned by the King Abdullah II Development Foundation to respond to the 2008 world financial crisis and to enable Jordan to continue its modernization process (The United Nations, 2015). This strategy is an extension and expansion of Jordan’s sustainable development strategy since the inauguration of Abdullah II. Its pursues the harmonious development of economic, social development and environmental protection, focusing on the development of environmentally friendly industries and green economy.
In terms of the development and utilization of environmental resources, Jordan also formulated the 2008-2022 water resources strategy, rationally planned per capita water use and overall water use strategies (The United Nations, 2015). The Jordanian government and the United Nations Environment Agency have also cooperated to shift to a green economy development model, promoting sustainable development in power, water resources, organic agriculture, garbage disposal, transportation, tourism, etc.