ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - In a bid to increase the Kurdistan Region’s market adoption of fully electric vehicles, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced on Wednesday that they will be waiving first-time registration and environmental fees on fully electric vehicles.

Rebar Ahmad, minister of the interior, signed a directive on Wednesday that would lift environment and first-time registration fees on fully electric cars, with the decision taking effect from February 16.

The initiative is an attempt to “reduce harm to the environment” of the Kurdistan Region and encourage mass market adoption of electric cars, which are widely accepted as an environmentally friendly alternative to gas and diesel vehicles, which comprise the vast majority of the Region’s automotive industry.

The interior ministry’s directive comes after Prime Minister Masrour Barzani in January tasked the ministry with dealing with "automobiles that are not up to date on their environmental requirements and cause pollution” and warned that “people who sell low-quality fuel that causes pollution” will be severely dealt with.

PM Barzani’s directive also involved regulating private power generators and ensuring the use of high-quality fuel to operate the generators and cracking down on gas flaring at the oil fields, a phenomenon where natural gas is burned off during oil extraction, which has drawn criticism for its environmental impact and waste of valuable resources.

According to a UNICEF report, Iraq in 2022 had the second-worst air quality out of 118 countries that were assessed.

Electric cars are expected to gradually dominate the automotive industry in the future.