Wood burning stoves

Hina Bokhari AM proposed, and Caroline Russell AM seconded, the following amended motion:

“The Assembly recognises the commitments in the Mayor’s Environment Strategy to reduce emissions from wood and other solid fuel burning in stoves in households and the recognition that these stoves contribute significantly to air pollution in London. This Assembly further notes the campaign to raise awareness amongst Londoners which saw Mayor Sadiq Khan invested £20,000 in an industry information campaign, including newspaper advertisements, encouraging people who currently use an open fire to switch to a cleaner, ecodesign-ready wood-burning stove, and use the best wood possible.

This Assembly however notes that since the publication of the Mayor’s Environment Strategy in May 2018 the scientific evidence from the impact of wood burning stoves has significantly grown. The Assembly in particular notes the research published in September 2021 by the European Environmental Bureau which revealed that a new EcoDesign stove in 2022 is allowed to emit 60 times as much particulate matter as an old truck from 2006 and 750 times as much as a newer truck from 2014.

Recognising the increasing evidence of the impact of air pollution from wood stoves the Assembly calls upon the Mayor to provide a regular update to the London Assembly and to Londoners as to his actions to address his specific commitments in the Environmental Strategy to tackling these issues, setting out how he is now addressing the growing evidence relating to the true impact of wood burning stoves on air pollution. As part of the Mayor regularly reporting back on his actions the Assembly specifically calls on the Mayor to provide a regular annual update on the proportion of London’s particulate matter pollution that is associated with wood burning, enabling Londoners to track progress on reducing the second largest source of particulate.

This Assembly also calls upon the Mayor to commit to a further Londonwide awareness campaign to highlight the environmental evidence relating to wood burning fires and to actively discourage their adoption in London.

This Assembly recognises that reforming the Clean Air Act to set tighter emission limits for wood burning stoves, as well as providing authorities with stronger enforcement powers in smoke control zones, setting minimum emission standards for new wood burning stoves sold in London would support the Mayor’s commitments in this area, and calls on the Chair of the Assembly to write to the Government and urge them to devolve powers to reduce air pollution from this source to the Mayor of London.”

Following debate, and upon being put to a vote, the amended motion was agreed unanimously.