ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq is leading efforts for developing nations to have a united front at this year’s global climate conference where adaptation will be a central theme, the head of COP30 told Rudaw on Friday.
Adaptation rather than mitigation will be a focus of the COP30 conference taking place in Brazil in November “because climate change has already arrived,” said Andre Correa do Lago, president designate of the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30).
Iraq, as current chair of the Group of 77, a body of 134 developing countries at the United Nations, is working to get them all on the same page ahead of the conference, he said. “And this is very important because if the developing countries have a common position, it is very difficult for the other countries to resist a group that represents more than two-thirds of the world population,” he said.
Correa do Lago also said that the transition away from fossil fuels will take many years and ”each country has to find its own path” to reach that goal without affecting their economy and livelihood.
According to a United Nations report published in 2022, Iraq is classified as “fifth-most vulnerable country to climate breakdown, affected by soaring temperatures, insufficient and diminishing rainfall, intensified droughts and water scarcity, frequent sand and dust storms, and flooding.”
Speaking to the UN General Assembly in New York this week, Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid addressed the challenges the country is now facing as a result of climate change. He said that “reduced water flow endangers not only our economy and environment, but also biodiversity, cultural heritage, and demographic balance,” and called on the international community to support cooperative agreements “that guarantee fairness, prevent harm, and secure mutual benefit, while promoting stability in the region and the world.”
Rashid also said that Iraq is determined to end its dependence on oil and has a plan to tackle the challenge of climate change: “initiatives in renewable energy, water management, emissions reduction and reforestation.”
Reducing flared gas, utilising gas and cutting methane emissions, and electrifying oil production operations are the three core pillars of Iraq’s road map to reducing its carbon emission, Abdulbaqi Khalaf, energy advisor to the Ministry of Oil, said in a panel discussion in May.
Iraq has started investing in renewable energy sources. Last week, it inaugurated the first phase of a major solar power plant in Karbala province that is expected to have a production capacity of 1,000 megawatts once fully operational. Future phases of the project will generate more clean energy that could feed Baghdad’s plan to electrify oil production.
Namo Abdulla contributed to this article.
