KRG Runaki Power Project Slashes Harmful Gases by 30%
Published at: Jul, 23 2025
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Regional Government’s "Runaki" electricity project has dramatically improved air quality across major cities, cutting harmful gas emissions by 30 percent following the shutdown of more than two thousand private generators, an environmental official announced Tuesday.
Sanaan Abdullah, spokesperson for the Board of Environmental Protection and Improvement of the Kurdistan Region, told the Kurdistan24 website on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, that the initiative has had a significant and measurable impact.
"Compared to the time before the implementation of the Runaki project and the shutdown of generators in neighborhoods and some commercial areas, the environment of the Kurdistan Region has become cleaner, and the emission of harmful gases in the air has now decreased by 30%," Abdullah said.
He described the rapid progress as highly promising for future air quality. "The reduction of harmful gases in such a short and record time is a high rate, which is why I expect the air quality to improve significantly in the next two years," he added.
Abdullah framed the project as a key policy of the KRG’s ninth cabinet, stating, "Cleaning the environment of the Kurdistan Region is one of the priorities of Prime Minister Masrour Barzani."
He also noted that this focus has led to stricter regulations. "We continuously monitor the condition of public places, refineries, and residential projects," Abdullah said. "Now, no project or public place, such as restaurants and cafeterias, is given a license unless they first obtain a permit from the Environment Board."
The "Runaki" project is a strategic initiative aimed at providing 24-hour electricity and phasing out private generators. To date, the project has benefited more than two million citizens and 90,000 commercial properties.
Official figures show that 2,107 neighborhood generators have been shut down so far. The government has a plan to shut down more than seven thousand generators across the Kurdistan Region by the end of 2026, with the ultimate goal of providing 24-hour electricity to all homes and commercial properties.