composer 1 out of memory - impossible to update to 2

Everytime I try to install a new package on my webserver, I run into composer error (after very long delay). What is the solution? What is the work around?

 pgodard@dedi13:~/public_html$ composer require setasign/fpdf:^1.8
 Warning from https://repo.packagist.org: Support for Composer 1 is deprecated and some packages will not be available. You should upgrade to Composer 2. See https://blog.packagist.com/deprecating-composer-1-support/
 Info from https://repo.packagist.org: #StandWithUkraine
 ./composer.json has been updated
 Loading composer repositories with package information
 Warning from https://repo.packagist.org: Support for Composer 1 is deprecated and some packages will not be available. You should upgrade to Composer 2. See https://blog.packagist.com/deprecating-composer-1-support/
 Info from https://repo.packagist.org: #StandWithUkraine
 Updating dependencies (including require-dev)
 
 Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 1610612736 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 12288 bytes) in phar:///usr/bin/composer/src/Composer/DependencyResolver/RuleSetGenerator.php on line 64
 
 Check https://getcomposer.org/doc/articles/troubleshooting.md#memory-limit-errors for more infopgpgppgodard@dedi13:~/public_html$ 

If I try to update composer, I get another error...

pgodard@dedi13:~/public_html$ composer selfupdate --2
Updating to version 2.4.2 (2.x channel).
Downloading (100%)                                                
[Composer\Downloader\FilesystemException]                            
Filesystem exception:                                                
Composer update failed: "/usr/bin/composer" could not be written.    
rename(/usr/bin/composer): Failed to open stream: Permission denied  
 

On my local webserver on my mac, it works 100%.

via Chebli Mohamed