Expert solutions to the harms of gas cooking in the home
With new research showing that UK homes with gas cookers are twice as polluted as those without, Global Action Plan brought together experts to discuss the health and environmental harms of gas cooking and examine potential solutions.
Our panel of experts consisted of Nicole Kearney, Director of Europe at energy efficiency NGO CLASP – who authored the new study – as well as Agnes Agyepong, Founder and CEO of the Global Black Maternal Health Institute, and Larissa Lockwood, our Director of Clean Air.
Nicole Kearney opened the webinar by presenting the findings of CLASP’s new in-home monitoring study, published on 8 November. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels were found to be around twice as high in UK kitchens and living rooms using gas appliances compared to those using electric appliances, and significantly higher in bedrooms.
She shared that in the UK, households with gas cookers breached WHO daily guidelines for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) 55% of the time, as well as breaching WHO hourly guidelines and UK hourly limits for NO2 25% of the time. Meanwhile, UK households with electric cookers never breached these NO2 limits during the study period.
She explained why these findings are so important in a UK context, given that the majority of UK households have gas cookers and that there are over half a million paediatric asthma cases linked to gas cooking in the UK. She also noted that there are more gas ovens in the UK than in the other European countries studied, which when in use, produced levels of NO2 that went beyond the maximum readings of the air quality sensors.
The panel discussion opened by exploring the importance of discussing indoor air quality and low awareness among both the public and policymakers about the harms of gas cooking. We also covered the need to address health and environmental issues together.
We then went on to discuss specific barriers to tackling air pollution from gas cooking. Agnes Agyepong stressed the need for solutions to this issue to be sensitive to the cultural aspects of cooking. Larissa Lockwood went on to raise the issue of social equity surrounding gas cooking - with many people unable to afford to switch to electric - and called on the government and councils to support the transition to electric cooking, especially in rental homes.
"Cooking in many societies is not just the food you eat, it’s a cultural celebration. We do need to raise awareness of the harms and the challenges, but it needs to be done in a culturally sensitive way, and the solutions that are coming up need to factor that in.”
– Agnes Agyepong, Founder and CEO of the Global Black Maternal Health Institute
The panel then moved onto the solutions, answering a question from Tom Parkes, Air Quality Programme Manager at Camden Council about what local authorities can do to protect residents. They discussed the importance of stakeholder engagement, the need for more work to develop the policy pathway for switching to electric cooking, and possible policy measures including incentives and energy labels for cooking appliances.
Ending on a positive note, the panel all expressed optimism that decarbonising cooking will be picked up within the net zero agenda, but that it is just a matter of when. Nicole Kearney urged the audience to stay engaged with this issue and to look out for new research coming out in the next year, expressing that she hopes we will soon reach an “interesting turning point” in awareness of the harms of gas cooking.
Watch the webinar in full below: