Wood burning produces fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5), which enters your bloodstream when inhaled and can cause heart and lung disease, as well as increasing your risk of diabetes and dementia.
If people in the UK only burned wood when no other heat source is available, we could avoid more than 1,500 deaths in the UK every year and save the NHS over £54 million in healthcare costs (that’s nearly 1.5 million GP appointments each year).
Even homes with newer “Ecodesign” wood burners are three times more polluted than those without, putting the health of you and your family at risk. And burning wood doesn’t just pollute your home – it pollutes your local community and harms the health of your neighbours.
We all want to stay warm this winter, but cosiness shouldn’t cost our health. This Clean Air Night (22 January 2026), share the facts about wood burning with your friends and family to protect everyone’s health.
Visit cleanairhub.org.uk to find out more and join the conversation on #CleanAirNight
Read the Ricardo report and watch the recording from the webinar in October to learn more about research quantifying the impacts of domestic burning on health.
