The UK Health Alliance on Climate Change (UKHACC) have responded to the recent revelation that wood stoves will not be banned under the Future Homes Standard, writing to Matthew Pennycook MP, the Minister of State for Housing and Planning.
The news that the Future Homes Standard would not proscribe the installation of wood burning stoves emerged in a statement two weeks ago which read: ‘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 Government acknowledges that it is possible to significantly reduce the level of smoke emitted through domestic burning if the right fuels, appliances and practices are used.’
The letter has been signed by Richard Smith, the Chair of UKHACC – an alliance of health organisations across the UK which represents around 1 million health professionals – and Professor Jill Belch, and includes detailed information about the dangerous level of emissions from even the most advanced stoves on the market, as well as the ultimate cost of these emissions to the NHS.
They point out that when the 2024 Lancet Countdown report on health and climate change identified the reduction of air pollution as one of three main priorities (along with protecting populations from extreme heat, and transitioning the healthcare sector to be low-carbon and climate-resilient) it specifically recommended that the UK needs to ‘develop a framework to implement a just transition away from wood burning to clean fuels in urban and rural areas.’
Also called as a ‘witness’ is the Climate Change Committee which has recommended the phasing out of wood-burning stoves due to the levels of greenhouse gases emitted when burning wood and solid fuels.
The letter also makes the point that it’s not simply the people choosing to burn wood in their whose health is impacted but those living nearby who have made no such choice.
It concludes: ‘We argue that wood burners are not a cost-effective, healthy or sustainable alternative to other forms of heating, notably heat pumps, and should not play a critical role in the heat security of our future homes.’
The full letter can be read here.
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