Publications

On Thursday the 6th of November, Global Action Plan brought together local authorities, policy analysts, campaigners and individuals, to discuss the findings of our latest research with Ricardo, which for the first time, quantifies the health harms of domestic burning in the UK.

The research, commissioned by Global Action Plan and Hertfordshire County Council, reveals that each year, air pollution from burning in UK homes contributes to nearly 2,500 premature deaths. Across the population, this adds up to over 27,000 life years lost to early death.

We kicked off the webinar by outlining the known impacts of domestic burning on the population and planet more broadly. It was highlighted that despite almost always being the most expensive form of heat, there's been an increase in the use of wood burners in urban areas since 2022. This is largely attributed to lifestyle factors, with wood burning being a secondary heat source for 92% of people using them.

We were then joined by air quality and economic experts from the Ricardo team, Tom Adams, Principal Consultant and Jack Dubey, Senior Economist, who talked us through the research findings.

A Deep Dive into the Air Quality Findings

Tom Adams, who specialises in air quality, gave us an overview of the project including its scope and the two mitigation scenarios modelled. He explained how scenario one models the introduction of smoke control areas in all urban locations across the UK, while scenario two models the cessation of domestic burning where another heat source is available.  

Adams noted that the first scenario modelled partial compliance rather than full compliance of smoke control legislation, to reflect realistic household behaviour that is observed when smoke control legislation is implemented. He explained that the second scenario was modelled to show a comparison between the level of emissions reduction possible under current legislation and the level of emissions reductions possible if a significant change of mindset around domestic burning was witnessed nationally.  

He then outlined the anticipated emissions reductions from each scenario, which notably saw an almost 10% further annual reduction in the emissions of fine particulate matter across the UK in scenario two, than from scenario one.  

Understanding the Health and Economic Outcomes of Domestic Burning

Following this, our next speaker from Ricardo, Jack Dubey talked us through how these anticipated emissions reductions under each scenario, would translate into health outcomes and economic savings in the UK.  

He explained how the study applied the results from their air quality modelling to determine the change in human exposure to pollution in each scenario. The human exposure to pollution is illustrated by population weighted mean concentrations (PWMC).  

Dubey went on to discuss the findings of the analysis, which showed significantly higher positive health impacts in scenario two in comparison to scenario one. Each scenario resulted in significant savings to the NHS and economic productivity, with a scenario two predicting over £40,000 more saved to the NHS than in scenario one, and almost £130,000 more saved in economic productivity.  

He concluded that further analysis is needed to appropriately compare these estimated economic savings with implementation and other costs. He further noted that this report only models outdoor emissions, so the health impacts of air pollution from wood burning are likely to be even higher.  

Jack’s Story: A Lived Experience of the Harms of Wood Burning

Our next speaker was Jack, an individual with lived experience of the health impacts of wood burning. Jack shared how during his childhood, he would join his family in visiting his grandfather who kept his wood burner on day and night, all year round. Jack recalled joining his family in huddling around his grandfather in the same small room as the lit wood burner and described how stuffy the air felt, as if someone had been chain smoking.  

Jack shared how his brother significantly struggled with asthma and would have his most severe asthma attacks after visiting their grandfather, which on several occasions resulted in his brother going to hospital. Jack hopes to see further regulations in the UK to protect people from air pollution produced by wood burning, such as a scheme incentivising individuals to promote greener and healthier forms of heating.   

Where to Next?  

Following Jack's story, we shared the latest statistics on the growing public awareness of the health harms of domestic burning, as well as research indicating that individuals are much more likely to support policy intervention once they’re aware of the health harms wood burners pose. However, the rise in wood burner use in 2022 was noted, highlighting the clear need to continue raising awareness in order to shift social norms of wood burner use.  

After an engaging Q&A session, the webinar concluded with information on how to get involved in the lead up to Global Action Plan’s 2026 Clean Air Night on January 22nd. 

If you’d like to help us raise awareness for #CleanAirNight, you can share the resources in our Communications Toolkit. You can also get in touch to share your plans for Clean Air Night and sign up to our newsletter to get the latest updates.