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What the government needs to do to cut air pollution from domestic burning

(02/07/25)

Ali Body Headshot Larissa Lockwood, Director of Policy and Campaigns

Estimated reading time 3 minutes

Using a wood or solid fuel burning stove or open fire is the most polluting way to heat your home,¹ and is also the second biggest source of dangerous particulate matter pollution (PM2.5) in the UK, one of the most harmful pollutants with links to lung, heart and brain disease.² It’s a problem that isn’t going away,³ and given the current increase in wood burner installations⁴ – in urban areas driven for many by the ‘’cottage core” trend⁵ – we could be looking at another million stoves installed by the end of the decade pumping out even more air pollution. Something needs to be done. The current solution seems to rely on the installation of Ecodesign stoves, which are now creating more PM2.5 than all the UK's power stations put together,⁶ with emissions set to increase. Ecodesign stoves are not the answer.

What is the Government doing to tackle this source of air pollution? MPs from across the political divide have been asking the government exactly this question, and since September last year the government has acknowledged the problem and stated that “Defra is currently considering options for action to reduce the impact of wood burning stoves.”⁷ In January officials were “Currently evaluating a number of options to reduce emissions of air pollutants, in particular fine particulate matter, from domestic burning” which the Minister responsible anticipated would be completed this Spring.⁸ We can therefore soon expect the big reveal as to what measures the government will take to reduce this source of air pollution.

In advance of this Government sharing their plans to tackle domestic burning, I can tell them the answers. For with academics, local authorities and clean air experts, we have published a policy pathway that would phase out air pollution from domestic burning in urban areas. It’s also been tested with the public, who are often surprised to learn about the health risks of wood burning and consequently keen to do something, and/or to see something being done, about it. Only an estimated eight percent of households are creating this air pollution problem, with the vast majority having other ways to heat their home, especially in urban areas.⁹ The majority of people support action by national government to reduce air pollution from wood burning stoves/open fires.¹⁰

Government should therefore feel empowered to go ahead with an ambitious course of action to remove this source of air pollution from urban areas. Measures such as not permitting wood burners/open fires in new builds - either as a primary or secondary source of heating - would be an obvious and easy start, alongside building public understanding around the problem to help people make informed choices to protect their health by burning far less. But to ensure burning is phased out in urban areas we also need Smoke Control Areas (the current regulatory mechanism) to be fit for purpose: to cover all populated areas, to measure air pollution not just visible smoke, and for local authorities to have the adequate powers and funding to enforce the rules. Ending government’s inadvertent endorsement of wood burning stoves and solid fuels will also be necessary, closing the list of ‘Defra approved’ products and sending the message that if you have neighbours and another way to heat your home it’s really not acceptable to burn.

These and the other measures set out in the policy pathway are what the government needs to be considering, evaluating and consulting on this summer, with a view to bringing them in as soon as possible to help save lives. If the measures they propose are anything less than not installing stoves in homes that currently don't have one, helping those who currently need them to transition to cleaner heating sources and encouraging those with other forms of heating to stop using their fires, then public health and climate change will be losing.

The answer is, improving the efficiency of the stoves where people really need them and encouraging those who already have a stove to use it a lot less.

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