QAZAQ GREEN.  Iraq is looking for a gradual transition to renewable energy, an official from the environment ministry said on Sunday, adding that several deals have been concluded, but yet to be implemented on the ground, Rudaw reports.

“One of the most important matters of concern to the Ministry of Environment is the shift towards renewable energy in Iraq,” the Technical Undersecretary of the Ministry of Environment Jassim al-Falahi told Iraqi state media on Sunday. “We hope that there is a real gradual shift towards using renewable energy, especially solar energy.”

The undersecretary added that a number of contracts have been concluded for the transition, and they hope to see them on the ground.

The Kurdistan Region and Iraq rely mainly on burning fossil fuels to generate electricity, a method often considered by environmentalists as harmful and outdated.

Iraq also depends on importing natural gas from Iran in a bid to keep the lights on in the country, an increase in solar panels would also reduce the country's cost of importing gas.

In September, the United States Consul General in Erbil Irvin Hicks Jr. inaugurated a solar panel product in the Region’s capital, which reportedly provides 200kW of clean energy for the Region’s consumption.

A transition to renewable energy would also mean that Iraq will be taking a step towards resolving one of its most serious concerns, climate change.

Iraq is still one of the world’s largest gas flaring countries. The flaring process is when oil wells burn the excess gas they can't store or use, and is a convenient way to deal with the waste product known as associated petroleum gas, however the process is among the main reasons for global climate change.

The country collected over 115 billion dollars from oil sales in 2022, the country’s main source of income.

All this while Iraq is the fifth-most vulnerable nation in the world to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity, according to the UN.

The World Bank in December warned that Iraq is battered by climate change impacts, and $233 billion must be invested by 2040 to allow the country pursue a “greener growth model”.