Overview
- Air quality minister Emma Hardy told Parliament no final decision has been made on banning domestic wood burners.
- DEFRA’s consultation proposes cutting the smoke limit for new stoves from 5g per hour to 1g per hour and adding clear health and pollution labels to stoves and packaged wood.
- The review also suggests stronger enforcement, including raising the fine for selling wet wood from £300 to £2,000.
- Official data and research report that domestic burning accounts for roughly a fifth of UK PM2.5, with a University of Birmingham study estimating about 25% versus 22% from road traffic.
- The proposals apply only to new appliances, with industry citing tests showing about 70% of stoves since 2018 already meet the tighter limit, while health campaigners argue the plans do not go far enough.