ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION, ENERGY TRANSITION, AND THE LABOR MARKET IN IRAQ AND THE GULF

ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION, ENERGY TRANSITION, AND THE LABOR MARKET IN IRAQ AND THE GULF A CONFERENCE REPORT BY THE MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE AND IRAQ POLICY GROUP MARCH 2023 ABOUT THE MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE The Middle East Institute (MEI) is a center of knowledge dedicated to narrowing divides between the peoples of the Middle East and the United States. [...] role of oil and gas in their national economy, the implications for the future of Iraq, and the “resource curse.” The legality of its own hydrocarbon sector and exports have been a topic of debate and dispute ever since the Without revisiting the extensive literature on the “resource ratification of the 2005 constitution. [...] Barzani belongs and which dominates the government and Iraq as a whole has a ratio of oil reserves to production of the oil sector, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in almost 100 years, and could make substantial new finds with Sulaymaniyah in the south of the KRI. [...] It fundamentally altered the relationship between dependence on this energy source, the main proven reserves the political and economic spheres, and undermined of which are in the countries of the Global South and more prospects for democratic social contracts and rule-of- particularly in the Middle East. [...] For instance, in a in the share of new and clean energy — including hydrogen, net-zero emissions pathway, the share of renewables in total renewables, and nuclear — and a significant decline in that of electricity generation globally should increase from the current hydrocarbons — coal, natural gas, and oil — in the future energy 29% to over 60% in 2030 and to nearly 90% in 2050.