Necessity drives Iraq’s decarbonisation plans
Chronic, acute power shortages are spurring efforts to develop renewables and capture flared gas
Iraq’s oil minister Ihsan Ismail pledged on Sunday to develop 10GW of solar capacity by 2030. Despite his admirable ambition, this volume appears improbable. The country had only 216MW installed at end-2019, cancelled its first utility-scale solar tender the same year amid political instability, and has neither the funds nor the foreign investment environment to support such an ambitious buildout. Nonetheless, the lack of operational domestic gas supplies and acute deficiencies in the existing power generation infrastructure are providing compelling incentives to both leverage the country’s year-round sunshine and accelerate flare gas-capture projects. Iraq is thereby adopting emissions-redu
Also in this section
13 December 2024
Prices in world’s largest compliance market have risen this year but remain below those seen in the EU
11 December 2024
Policymakers need to step up with a long-term, global strategy if the energy transition is ever to be a success
11 December 2024
CCUS and other carbon management technologies are gaining traction around the world, but heightened policy risk and other pressures will make 2025 a challenging year in some regions
10 December 2024
Tightened standards have helped improve the outlook for the voluntary carbon market, which is set for a record year and poised for long-term growth
