Historic Overview:
For centuries, Brits heated their homes with open fires, first burning wood or peat, and later coal. By the 1800s and early 1900s, coal had become the dominant domestic fuel, providing ample heat but also producing substantial smoke and carbon emissions. The Great London Smog of 1952, largely caused by coal smoke, highlighted the air pollution resulting from domestic heating. This led to the Clean Air Act (starting in 1956), which pushed a shift away from coal in cities, encouraging “smokeless” fuels and gas. By the 1960s and 70s, the UK began a massive conversion from coal fires to gas central heating systems. In 1960, only about 5% of UK households had central heating, but today over 90% do, the vast majority powered by gas. This transition improved urban air quality and convenience, and it also modestly reduced carbon emissions: burning natural gas produces less CO₂ than coal for the same heat output.
Below is a diagram which shows the growth and subsequent fall of coal production in the UK.
Despite these changes outlined, home heating remains a major source of greenhouse gases. In fact, heating the UK’s 28 million homes accounts for approximately 18% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. Most of that comes from burning natural gas in boilers. Over time, oil-fired boilers also became common in rural areas without gas, contributing further to domestic emissions. By 2023, the era of coal heating had virtually ended, and the sale of traditional house coal for home use was officially banned in England on 1st May 2023, but the challenge of decarbonising home heat remains. The UK’s net-zero climate goals by 2050 demand a rapid shift to cleaner heating across the board. This context has renewed interest in a variety of solutions, from electric heat pumps to modern wood-burning stoves, as the country seeks to lower heating-related carbon emissions while keeping homes warm.
Environmental Impact – Pre-Ecodesign:
Alongside coal, wood has long been a domestic fuel in the UK. Traditional wood-burning stoves and open fires may look inviting, but they also carry significant environmental impacts. One major concern is particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10): the tiny soot and smoke particles released from burning wood on non-Ecodesign stoves. The smoke from older non-Ecodesign stoves and open fires is laden with these fine particles that contribute to smog and can penetrate deep into lungs, causing serious health problems.
Traditional non-Ecodesign stoves and open fires also emit carbon dioxide and other gases. In summary, traditional wood-burning methods tend to be both pollution-intensive and carbon-inefficient. The combination of thick particulate pollution and greenhouse emissions from millions of coal and wood fires historically made domestic heating a significant driver of climate and air quality issues. This legacy is why reforming how we heat our homes, and specifically how we burn wood, has become an environmental priority. The rise of Ecodesign has been instrumental in this.
The Warm (and much needed) Welcome of Ecodesign:
To address the pollution from home wood burning, the UK government introduced stricter rules in 2022. These stem from the Ecodesign regulations, an EU-originated initiative that the UK has adopted to improve energy efficiency and lower emissions from appliances. As of 1 January 2022, all new wood-burning stoves (and other solid-fuel heating appliances) sold in the UK had to meet the Ecodesign standards. This was a key commitment in the UK’s 2019 Clean Air Strategy, which recognised that not all wood burning is equal, and using cleaner stoves and fuels can drastically cut pollution.
The regulations imposed tighter limits on a range of emissions from stoves, including particulate matter (PM10/PM2.5), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOₓ), and organic gaseous compounds (OGC). For example, under Ecodesign, the permitted CO emissions for a stove were slashed by 88% compared to the old standard, and the PM emission limit was cut by 55%. In addition, Ecodesign mandates a minimum efficiency: new wood stoves must be designed to burn fuel more completely and waste less heat. The required seasonal efficiency for closed wood stoves is up to 80% or more, whereas an open fire is so wasteful that its efficiency is only around 25%. This means 75% of the heat from an open fire goes up the chimney.
All the wood-burning stoves in the Charlton & Jenrick range became Ecodeign compliant a number of years before the 2022 deadline.
The overall goal of these regulations is to ensure that wood-burning is done on much cleaner terms, cutting smoke by design rather than relying solely on user behaviour. It’s part of the government’s plan to reduce particulate pollution by 30% by 2030.
Ecodesign vs The Old…..
So, what’s the difference between a modern Ecodesign stove and the older wood-burning appliances and open fires of the past? In short: far lower emissions and much higher efficiency. Independent tests show that an Ecodesign wood stove produces up to 90% less particulate emissions than an open fireplace, and about 80% less emissions than an average 10-year-old (non-Ecodesign) wood stove.
This dramatic reduction is achieved through improved stove design, featuring secondary and tertiary air supply for more complete combustion, insulated fireboxes that maintain higher burn temperatures, and baffle systems that burn off more smoke before it exits. As a result, Ecodesign stoves burn wood more completely, converting a greater portion of it into heat and less into soot or unburned smoke. By contrast, older designs or simple open fires allow much of the fuel’s energy to literally go up in smoke.
The diagram below illustrates the huge differences in appliances:
The Value of Wood in the Carbon Puzzle…
Domestic heating is not only an air quality issue, it’s a central climate change issue. As noted, nearly one-fifth of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions originate from heating homes. The main reason is the reliance on fossil fuels: about 85% of UK households use natural gas for heating, and others use oil or electric heating, which, if the electricity isn’t green, also involves carbon emissions. In 2022, emissions directly from household heating (burning fuel in our boilers, stoves, etc.) were roughly 63 million tonnes CO₂-equivalent, down from 74 Mt the year before.
This fluctuation often reflects winter weather and energy use patterns; for instance, 2022’s lower heating emissions were partly due to milder weather and high energy prices that led people to conserve gas. However, in the broader context, reducing the carbon footprint of heating is crucial to achieving climate targets. The government’s Heat and Buildings Strategy (2021) sets out plans to phase out new fossil gas boilers by 2035 and scale up low-carbon heating solutions.
So, where do wood-burning stoves fit into this carbon puzzle? They actually occupy a very valuable niche. Wood is a renewable fuel: trees absorb CO₂ as they grow, and if new trees are planted or regrowth is managed to replace the wood that’s burned, the carbon released by burning can be reabsorbed over time. The SIA and government sources consider biomass (wood logs) to be a “low-carbon” heating option, provided the wood comes from sustainable sources.
The UK Forestry Standard states that although burning wood releases CO2, an equivalent amount was recently taken out of the atmosphere when the tree grew. In other words, unlike gas or coal, which release carbon that was locked underground for millions of years, wood releases biogenic carbon that is part of the current carbon cycle. For this reason, emissions from wood-burning are treated differently in carbon accounting: they’re often counted as near zero in the energy sector, with the carbon cost assigned to land-use if forests are not replanted.
Suppose a household switches from an oil boiler to a modern wood-pellet stove, for example. In that case, its net CO₂ emissions can drop significantly (as seen in Scotland, where moving from coal or oil heat to biomass or heat pumps yields substantial carbon savings.
However, the role of wood stoves in domestic carbon emissions is still relatively small. Only a minority of homes use wood as a substantial heat source. Many stove owners use them for secondary heating or occasional fires, rather than as the primary means of heating the entire house. Government data from a large survey found that about 8% of households use a wood-burning appliance, and 95% of those homes have alternative heating, like gas central heating. This means in most cases, wood stoves are supplementing or adding ambience, and not carrying the full heating load. In terms of energy share, wood burning is a few per cent of total domestic heat energy consumption.
Therefore, the direct contribution of wood stoves to UK carbon emissions is modest, especially if one assumes much of the wood is sourced sustainably. When wood is burned instead of fossil gas (and the wood is replenished), it can displace some fossil carbon. In rural areas not connected to the gas grid, installing a biomass stove or boiler has been one strategy under renewable heat incentive programs to reduce CO₂ emissions by replacing oil or coal heating.
A word of caution – If wood is harvested unsustainably or transported long distances, or if burning it leads to deforestation, then the carbon benefits diminish. Additionally, Inefficient wood burning can reduce their green credentials by releasing more carbon for the same amount of heat. That’s why the efficiency gains of Ecodesign stoves matter for climate as well as air quality.
A modern stove that requires fewer logs to heat your home indirectly means fewer trees need to be cut (or more trees can continue absorbing CO₂ in forests). It also means less methane and other greenhouse gases from incomplete combustion, since a better burn minimises those byproducts.
In summary, wood-burning stoves, once a traditional source of both warmth and pollution, are being repositioned as a climate-friendly heating option for the future, provided certain conditions are met, which, as a business, we are very keen to promote.
Used wisely, they contribute to the decarbonisation of home heating by providing a renewable heat source that complements other solutions, such as heat pumps. Used carelessly (old, smoky stoves with wet wood), they can harm both the climate and air quality.
