Opec member urges oil producers to focus more on renewable energy

Iraqi minister and International Energy Agency chief urge countries to move away from fossil fuel dependency

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

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 in the Guardian to urge oil producers to pursue an economic renewal focused on environmentally sound policies and technologies" that would include solar power and potentially nuclear reactors, and reduce their dependency on fossil fuel exports.