Wood-burning stoves will be allowed to heat new-build homes in England despite growing evidence showing their significant contribution to air pollution and carbon emissions.
The government is writing its future homes standard, a set of rules for developers, aimed at decarbonising England’s housing stock. Heating the UK’s 28m homes accounts for about 18% of greenhouse gas emissions.
However, there are fears that after intense lobbying, these standards will be weakened. The Guardian recently reported that the Labour party is considering making solar panels optional on new homes in England after pressure from housebuilders.
The Stove Industry Association (SIA) has released a letter it received from the government confirming the appliances will be allowed in new homes.
It reads: “A full technical consultation on the future homes standard was launched in December 2023 and closed in March 2024. Under the standards proposed in the consultation, a wood-burning stove would be permitted as a secondary heating source in new homes.”
The Climate Change Committee has recommended the phasing out of wood-burning stoves in homes because of the carbon they emit. They also produce dangerous PM2.5 particles that, according to a growing body of research, are responsible for a range of health problems including heart and lung disease, as well as diabetes, cancer, brain function and premature births.
Last year, a study by Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, found that even “eco-design” wood-burning stoves produced 450 times more toxic air pollution than gas central heating.
Jemima Hartshorn, the co-founder of the Mums for Lungs campaign group, said: “This is a very disappointing and surprising decision by government. We know that wood burning is one of the major sources of toxic air pollution that is killing tens of thousands of people every year and is linked to a range of serious and life-changing diseases.
“Due to the high amount of greenhouse gases emitted when burning wood and solid fuels, the Climate Change Committee strongly advises that it needs to be phased out as it is not carbon neutral and has no place in how homes should be heated in the 21st century.”
Andy Hill, the chair of the SIA, said: “We are delighted that it has been officially confirmed that under the proposed future homes standard, the installation of a wood-burning stove will be permitted.
“The SIA welcomes the government’s positive response and looks forward to continued engagement as policies are developed and implemented.”
i see no reason they should be banned, burning wood is nowhere near as contributive towards things such as pollution and lung issues as something like china’s scale of manufacturing, i’m quite honestly sick of how over-mandated things are here when 99% of the problem isn’t our cause, we could take the pressure somewhere where it’s deserved instead
Yes that’s Nigel Farage’s stance as well. In a way I kind of understand the point but that’s a bit like saying there’s no point saving a few people when loads of people are drowning. Yeah there is.
i would see it that way if the idea wasn’t to follow up with pressure against those who do the worst, for this reason i see it more akin to ignoring a few people drowning to focus on the sinking cruise liner elsewhere
There’s a lot we can do in that area but people like farage try and use the idea that the UK doesn’t produce as much as China as an excuse to not do anything at all.
And your comment seems to have the same slant. It’s not as if we’re even giving anything up by having renewable and carbon neutral systems. It’s not like your life is demonstrably worse because we don’t burn coal for power anymore, all because somebody has said that a terribly inefficient heating system is terribly inefficient and also bad for you.
After all you’re not in China, so what Chinese air quality is like isn’t really relevant to the topic, but what is relevant to the topic is what the air quality around you is like and if they can improve the air quality around you then it’s an improvement, even if overall not much change has happened on a global level