Iraq Is Working On A National Green Strategy

In recent news, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Iraq, Ali Allawi, said that the country is working on a National Green Strategy to assess and implement measures to mitigate the impact of climate change and support the net-zero transition.

Ali Allawi said, “A green paper would set out the environmental strategy that would look at every aspect of the economy and how it impacts the environment. The green paper is based on a list taken by the President a month ago to look at various areas that Iraq should be strategically concerned regarding its environmental strategy and policy.” 

“We have started the process with a high-level cabinet committee. We hope to have the green paper approved by the cabinet as a process in the next two weeks and there should be a green strategy for the country in the next three months, which will also be adopted by the next government,” the Minister added.

Iraq is looking to increase investments in the petrochemical sector and refineries based on the net-zero concept to stabilize the country’s export revenue in the short to medium term.

He said the next 3-5 years are critical for countries like Iraq to rebase their economies to get alternative sources of revenue. The OPEC nation gets about 90% of its revenues from fossil fuels.

Over the last year and a half, Iraq has taken several steps to diversify the economy, which includes a recently released whitepaper that deals with economic and public administration reforms, the decision to significantly increase investments in renewables, particularly in solar power, and a massive reforestation program.