Oil announces the formation of a team specialized in carbon reduction projects

On Sunday, the Ministry of Oil detailed the goal of Iraq’s participation in the Conference of the Parties (COP 28) held in the Emirates, and while it indicated that the proportion of emissions in Iraq is slightly more than 1% of its total around the world, it announced the formation of a team specialized in carbon reduction projects, stressing at the same time Continued work on the associated gas investment plan to make it an additional resource for the state.

The Advisor to the Minister of Oil for Energy Affairs, Abdul Baqi Khalaf, said in a statement reported by the official news agency, and seen by Al-Iqtisad News, that “the Conference of the Parties (COP28) is one of the important global summits that comes in conjunction with the mobilization of efforts to confront climate change, which represents the greatest challenges.” that threatens planet Earth.
He added, "Calling the conference of the parties means that every participating country, body, organization, and individual is a party to the solution to this global crisis, and Iraq's presence today in this conference, represented by the President of the Republic, a number of ministers as an executive authority, and a number of representatives with a large technical delegation, reflects the government's orientation and interest in This is a global path to address climate challenges and their impacts.”
He added, "The conference has two zones (green and blue), and the Iraqi pavilion is in the blue zone, which is the governmental part registered in the Climate Framework Agreement."
He stressed “the need for the whole world to share the responsibility of combating climate change, and for the burden not to fall on developing countries or countries with limited resources,” noting that “the Paris Agreement includes important provisions that take into account countries whose economies depend mainly on fossil fuels to provide their national contributions.” Today, Iraq has a national contribution to the Paris Agreement of 2%, while it was able to achieve a reduction in emissions by 4%, thanks to continued efforts in associated gas investment projects.”
He explained, "Iraq, although it is an oil country, its responsibility for climate deterioration does not exceed 1.6% of the total emissions on the planet, and therefore it is more affected by the climate than causing the damage."
He pointed out, "Iraq has no fear, as an oil-producing country, about fulfilling its climate commitments, and we must benefit economically from any other climate reduction we make through the climate financing of the Framework Agreement or through the issues of carbon bonds, which require countries with high emissions to compensate affected countries."
He continued, "One of the important items that I discussed at the conference is Article 6 of the agreement, which deals with climate finance issues," noting that "the Ministry of Oil has a plan to invest associated gas to become an additional resource to strengthen the state budget according to a plan drawn up by the Ministry of Oil."
He stressed, "Iraq worked proactively compared to its neighbors, and today we have a complete team specialized in carbon reduction projects that was trained through workshops and in partnership with developed countries. We have a memorandum with the Norwegian side for capacity building, and there are previous cooperation agreements, and future cooperation agreements are intended to be signed." In addition to international support and international partnership in methane inventory procedures.”
He pointed out, "The conference is intended to benefit on many levels, and the most important thing that Iraq emphasizes is investing in international partnership in the process of building capabilities, keeping pace with technological developments, and obtaining international financing pledged by developed countries for the purposes of addressing climate impacts."