Clean Air Night launched as Winter counterpart to Clean Air Day

Global Action Plan – the organisers of Clean Air Day, the UK’s largest public engagement campaign on air pollution – are launching a new sister campaign to shine a light on the uncomfortable truth about wood burning.

Clean Air Night will bust key myths about wood burning by providing information to the public highlighting that wood burning is a significant source of air pollution that harms our health.

The campaign will run for four weeks, culminating in Clean Air Night on Wednesday 24th January 2024 next year.

Starting at sundown (4:35pm) on Clean Air Night, leading experts will further reveal the truth about wood burning to the public through a series of videos. There will also be a Clean Air Night Summit, where organisations and local authorities can speak directly to experts and share learnings.

There are two ways that members of the public can get involved with the first-ever Clean Air Night:

• Learn: from experts on the night in our explainer videos and find out more about burning wood by visiting the Clean Air Hub and exploring the hashtag #CleanAirNight.
• Share: this information with your community, family, friends to shine a light on key myths and protect people and planet from the harms of woodburning.

Clean Air Night has been developed using the latest research into how to communicate about wood burning, recently shared with the sector in a toolkit produced by Global Action Plan in partnership with Impact on Urban Health, behavioural experts Kantar and creative agency Dog, Cat & Mouse.

Any public sector or non-profit organisation who wants to see and breathe clean air can become an official supporter of Clean Air Night for free. Global Action Plan will be producing free resources for supporters of Clean Air Night so they can share the truth about wood burning with the public, helping them to protect themselves, their families and their communities. This will include a communications toolkit including week-by-week social media templates, newsletter copy and downloadable posters. There are also many ways for for-profit organisations, schools and individuals to engage with the campaign.

Tessa Bartholomew-Good, Head of Campaigns – Clean Air Programmes at Global Action Plan said: ‘Most of us have cosy memories of sitting around a fire. And of course, we all want to stay warm this winter. But the uncomfortable truth is lighting fires in our homes in the largest source of small particle air pollution in the UK, causing serious harm to our lung, heart and brain health. On top of this, burning wood produces more carbon dioxide than coal or gas.

‘We want to help protect people and planet by shining a light on the uncomfortable truth about wood burning, ensuring that everyone can make informed decisions to protect themselves, their families and the environment.’

Matthew Clark, Programme Manager – Air Quality at Hertfordshire County Council, the funders of the first Clean Air Night, said: ‘The amount of harmful small particle air pollution caused by domestic burning has more than doubled over the past ten years in the UK. Local authorities are uniquely placed to take action on this growing issue and protect the health of their residents. That’s why Hertfordshire County Council is proud to be supporting the first-ever Clean Air Night campaign, and we encourage other councils and organisations to join us in starting a national conversation on the harms of wood burning.’

To find out more about supporting Clean Air Night, email cleanerair@globalactionplan.org.uk