During the sixteenth regular session of Council of Ministers on approving the draft national policy for the sustainability of urban development projects (palms) delivered by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research- University of Karbala.

Higher Education reviewed that the policy works to identify the factors affecting urban sustainability in Iraq and to study the environmental, social and economic aspects of local specificity and urban challenges, as well as preserving the environment and water, protecting natural resources, reducing pollution and saving energy while using alternatives and recycling waste.

Higher Education demonstrated that the project included preparing and designing of an Iraqi scale to assess the sustainability of urban development projects during the first year of the policy's entry into force, while it stipulated the adoption of the scale and its application to all urban development projects to determine and evaluate its sustainability in order to decide whether to accept it or subject it to possible standards to raise its sustainability, as well as developing traditional building and construction methods towards sustainable construction.