Tag: oil

    The rise in Iraqi cancer cases may be linked to wars, the environment

    Director of the Environmental Department in southern Iraq Walid Hamid said May 21 that “Ministry of Health statistics indicate that 2,000 cases of cancer are recorded annually due to oil flares that release toxic gases into the air as a result of extraction operations in the Basra fields.” He criticized oil companies for their disregard […]

    Climate change: ditch 90% of the world’s coal and 60% of oil and gas to limit warming to 1.5°C – experts
    09 Sep 2021

    Global mean surface temperatures reached 1.2°C above the pre-industrial average in 2020. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned in its recent report that Earth could hit 1.5°C in as little as a decade. The 0.3°C separating these two temperatures makes a world of difference. Scientists believe that stabilizing our warming world’s temperature at 1.5°C […]

    A new energy future fueled by Emirati and Israeli peace

    It was a year and one month ago when first media reports of an emerging normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates appeared. The Israel-UAE normalization agreement, was initially agreed to in a joint statement by the United States, Israel and the UAE more than a year ago, on August 13, 2020, officially […]

    Without help for oil-producing countries, net-zero by 2050 is a distant dream
    07 Sep 2021

    To meet climate targets and avoid economic collapse, countries such as Iraq need international support in the transition to clean energy, Ali Allawi and Fatih Birol state in the article for The Guardian. Ali Allawi is deputy prime minister and finance minister of Iraq. Fatih Birol is the executive director of the International Energy Agency. […]

    The weight of the world: on framing the fight against climate change
    07 Sep 2021

    “The oil-producing countries work to translate their wealth into international influence, resulting in a geopolitics that more often than not reignites old conflicts, although it sometimes creates new ones.” Let’s get acquainted with the article by Alaa Abd El Fattah. He’s the webmaster of Panorama, and an Egyptian blogger, software developer, and political activist. He […]

    Renewable energy: how the Gulf is preparing for a future without petroleum
    05 Sep 2021

    From Abu Dhabi to Manama, engineers and scientists in the Gulf are pioneering energy development to prepare for a fast-approaching future without the petroleum industry, writes Austin Bodetti, The New Arab states. While the Gulf region today symbolizes the world economy’s dependence on fossil fuels, the region’s Arab monarchies may soon adopt a once-implausible mantle: […]

    Syrian oil spill moving towards Cyprus appears to dissolve partially

    Following a spill in Syria, a large oil slick that had been working its way across the Mediterranean towards Cyprus appears to have partially dissolved. However, its next move will depend on currents, The Guardian reports. The spill likened in size to New York City had threatened the island’s Karpas peninsula, a strip of pristine […]

    Opec member urges oil producers to focus more on renewable energy
    02 Sep 2021

    The finance minister of Iraq, one of the founding members of the global oil cartel Opec, has made an unprecedented call to fellow oil producers to move away from fossil fuel dependency and into renewable energy, ahead of a key Opec meeting. Ali Allawi, who is also the deputy prime minister of Iraq, has written […]

    ‘We breathe it in while we sleep’: Iraqi Kirkuk troubled by air pollution

    A nasty smell is spreading through eastern Kirkuk in Iraq, and residents are worried about the effect on their health from nearby industries, including oil facilities, Rudaw reports. “We don’t smell the nasty scent all the time, but sometimes we do. It smells like burnt crude. Our air conditioners pull the smell into our houses. […]

    Why ecosystem restoration should be high on the Arab region’s agenda

    Even after the passage of some 30 years, Saudi Arabia’s environment continues to suffer the effects of the Iraqi invasion and occupation of neighboring Kuwait and its subsequent liberation during the 1991 Gulf War, Arab News states. The establishment of significant encampments for hundreds of thousands of allied troops, military fortifications, and roadways, together with […]