‘Phase out domestic burning to protect public health from pollution’

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Government data shows that lighting fires in our homes is the largest source of toxic fine particle air pollution in the UK, and yet more and more households are choosing to install wood burning stoves in their homes.

To meet Labour’s commitment to preventative health and reducing health inequalities as part of the Health Mission, urgent policy intervention is needed to protect public health from this burning pollution problem. Tackling domestic burning needs to be a key tenet of the government’s fifth public health priority on clean air.

Why is domestic burning a public health problem?

Emissions from domestic burning – to which wood burning contributes 75% – are now the single biggest source of fine particle air pollution (PM2.5) in the UK. Yet for most people with a wood burning stove or open fire it is a secondary source of heat, with 92% of UK households having an alternative way to heat their home.

This increase in PM2.5 pollution is a serious concern for public health: it enters the bloodstream when inhaled and causes heart and lung disease, diabetes, and dementia.

We should be especially concerned about the impacts of home burning on our young people, whose developing lungs, hearts and brains are all impacted by what they breathe, setting them up for poor health throughout their lives, as well as those with existing health conditions that may be exacerbated by breathing in dangerous air pollution.

As the Chief Medical Officer’s report recognises, solid fuels are by far the most polluting method of domestic heating. Yet solid fuel burning is a growing problem. According to industry data, there was a 40% increase in purchases of wood burners between 2021-22.

Extrapolating from this data, we estimate that one million wood burning stoves could be installed in the UK over the course of this Parliament. While newer Ecodesign stoves are cleaner than older models, even homes with these “Ecodesign” wood burners have been found to be three times more polluted than those without.

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What are the benefits of phasing out domestic burning?

Curbing pollution from domestic burning presents an opportunity to improve public health across the country, helping to build an NHS fit for the future. Studies have shown that reducing wood burning pollution in a community leads to improved health for both children and adults.

Reducing domestic wood burning not only benefits our health, but also the planet’s, as burning wood is an inefficient source of heat.

For the same amount of heat or energy, burning wood releases more carbon dioxide than oil or gas, contributing to climate change. To reach net zero, we need to ensure everyone has access to cleaner and greener heating methods.

We must phase out wood burning stoves and open fires in homes with cost-effective and less polluting heating systems already available by 2030 – starting in our towns and cities – in order to ensure that future generations’ health is not impacted by this major source of air pollution.

This must be a fair transition, with support for those in fuel poverty or off-grid homes to incentivise low carbon heat sources and improve insulation.

How can we phase out domestic burning?

In collaboration with leading academics, clean air experts and local councils and through public focus groups, Global Action Plan has produced an evidence-based policy pathway for government that could be implemented in England to phase out the air pollution produced by burning wood and other solid fuels in homes with other sources of heating, predominantly focusing on those in towns and cities.

The report sets out five main problems that need to be addressed in order to tackle the impacts of domestic wood burning on our health and the planet:

• There is low public awareness of the harms of wood burning – something that Global Action Plan is working to address through our Clean Air Night campaign, which encourages people to learn and share the facts about wood burning.
• Defra approved and “ecodesign” labels create confusion about the contribution of domestic burning to air pollution.
• Local authorities lack real power and resource to curb air pollution levels from domestic burning.
• The misclassification of wood burning as carbon neutral allows unchecked carbon emissions to accelerate.
• Existing and planned homes are not currently set up to disincentivise the installation of wood burning stoves.

It then sets out a range of policy measures to address each of these five problems, that together could phase out the air pollution produced by domestic burning – from introducing a government public information campaign to increase levels of understanding about the health harms of domestic burning to strengthening and expanding Smoke Control Areas (SCAs) and empowering local authorities to tackle air pollution produced by domestic burning in a way they deem to be most appropriate for their local area.

Over the next five years, as part of the health and clean energy missions, the government’s strategy needs to evolve from encouraging people to ‘burn better’ to phasing out this source of harmful air pollution, starting with those homes – most typically, but not exclusively, in our towns and cities – where a fire is a secondary and therefore unnecessary heating source.

By committing to implementing the policies set out in our pathway, that journey can start today.

Download the full report here to learn more about the pollution problem created by domestic burning and how we can work together to solve it.

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