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
11 August 2025
US company reiterates commitment to CCUS as it agrees to work with major steelmakers to drive large-scale deployment in Asia
7 August 2025
Draft law opens door to large-scale carbon capture and storage, and could unleash investment in gas-based hydrogen projects
6 August 2025
EU industry and politicians are pushing back against the bloc’s green agenda. Meanwhile, Brussels’ transatlantic trade deal with Washington could consolidate US energy dominance
22 July 2025
Sinopec hosts launch of global sharing platform as Beijing looks to draw on international investors and expertise