Rise in percentage of homes with wood burners since 2022, analysis finds

Growing numbers of UK homes with wood-burning stoves are leading to new air pollution hotspots.

Analysis by led by University College London (UCL) found that the spatial density of burners is related to the amount of air pollution that builds up in neighbourhoods on winter evenings. The greatest density of wood burners was found in urban areas outside major cities. The list was topped by Worthing, Norwich, Reading, Cambridge and Hastings councils, which all had more than 100 wood burners per square kilometre.

Although people with stoves tend to burn more frequently than those with fireplaces, replacing open fires with newer, less polluting stoves should lead to decreases in particle pollution.

More homes burning wood or solid fuel could worsen the problem.

The analysis of recent energy performance certificates (EPCs) by UCL shows a rise in the percentage of houses that have wood burners since 2022, from 9.4% in 2022 to 10.3% in 2024.

EPCs are required when homes are on the market for rental or sale.

Looking at the 3.2m certificates for 2022 and 2024, the greatest growth in burners was in mainly rural areas. Several council areas had growth of more than eight percentage points. These included West Berkshire, Wychavon in Worcestershire and Rother in Kent.

There was also growth in the urban wood burner hotspot of Hastings, where new certificates with a wood burner went from 7.7% in 2022 to 15.3% in 2024. In Worthing it went from 12.3% to 15.5%.

The way solid fuel burning is regulated in the UK has been criticised. Dr James Heydon from the University of Nottingham said: “We are still using a regulatory system designed in the 1950s to tackle visible smoke from coal fires, even though today’s problem is the largely invisible but no less harmful particle pollution from wood burning.”

Larissa Lockwood, from the charity Global Action Plan, said: “Based on industry figures, we estimate that if trends continue nearly one million wood burning stoves could be installed over the course of the current parliament.”

Lockwood’s team worked with a panel of 16 expert advisers to create a policy pathway towards a 2030 phase-out of burning in homes that have other sources of heating.

The pathway includes information campaigns by local and central government on the impacts of air pollution from solid fuels to dispel the notion that home wood burning is climate neutral and to challenge the marketing of stoves as cosy and aspirational. It also includes changes to building regulations, and planning processes towards bans on the installation of new burners, as well ass health warnings on stoves and a burner alert scheme to discourage people from lighting their fire during times of high air pollution.

Andy Hill, the chair of the Stove Industry Association, said: “The SIA has long advocated for the adoption of modern, eco design compliant stove technology as a replacement for open fires and older, outdated stove models to result in a continuation of the downward trend in emissions from domestic combustion.”