As the title says Ecodesign woodburning stoves are shockingly polluting and we have the actual figures for pollutants made by Ecodesign Stoves which has been taken from the latest National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) of 2023.*
Black Carbon
Ecodesign Stoves are particularly bad for black carbon emissions.
Assuming 817,000 Ecodesign stoves (from SIA & UK government data). This means that all the Ecodesign stoves in the UK emit 16.8 times more black carbon than all wood burning power stations in UK (including Drax). In fact, 6.4 times more black carbon than ALL the power stations in the UK.
The average Ecodesign stove emits more black carbon than 8 average road vehicles. Assuming 817,000 Ecodesign stoves (from SIA & UK government data) and 41.4 million road vehicles (from UK government data.
All 817,000 Ecodesign stoves in the UK combined emit 635 times more black carbon than all the coal fired power stations in the UK combined.
PM2.5
Ecodesign stoves in the UK emit 1.46 times more PM2.5 than ALL car exhausts in the UK, even though there were only 817,000 Ecodesign stoves compared to 35.7 million cars.
Ecodesign stoves emit 4.8 times the PM2.5 of all wood burning power stations in the UK. And of course cause much more health problems because the chimneys are located low down nearer ground level and are right next to homes.
All Ecodesign stoves also emit 1.8 times more PM2.5 than all power stations in the UK.
PM2.5 from “Ecodesign” is 1.69 ktonnes (NAEI data), 817,000 “Ecodesign” stoves in UK (SIA estimate). Therefore 2.07kg per user. Assuming (very generously) each Ecodesign wood burning stove burns for 10 hrs/week for 26 weeks of year. That equates to 7.96 grams of PM2.5 per hour.
16PAH (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons)
66 % of UK emissions are from all forms of domestic woodburning. Natural fires and Bonfire Night are another 14%.
12% of all the 16 Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the UK are from “Ecodesign” stoves. 15 times more of these 16PAHs from all UK “Ecodesign” stoves than ALL UK power stations, when those power stations provide 120 times more energy. That means that 200g per year of the 16 different types of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons emitted by the average “Ecodesign” stove, the chimneys of which are just a few metres from the windows of neighbouring properties. Many of these are toxic and most are known carcinogens and all have been linked to serious and debilitating illnesses.
The NAEI data has been very conservative with regards to the amount of hours and the type of fuel Ecodesign stove owners burn. It has been our members’ experiences that Ecodesign stove owners burn for many more hours and for many more days than in these NAEI figures.
The number of Ecodesign woodburning stoves currently in use in 2025 is also much higher which means emissions are much higher and pollution is much worse than the above statistics show.
*The NAEI is the standard reference air emissions inventory for the UK and includes emission estimates for a wide range of important pollutants including greenhouse gases and regional pollutants. The data is used to inform government policy and to help identify ways to reduce emissions.