We are now in the cold months of the year, and home-heating is a crucial concern. Against a backdrop of volatile and high fossil fuel costs, more and more households are resorting to a sometimes cheaper yet polluting alternative for heating their homes: wood burning.
Accelerating residential heating decarbonisation is urgent. To highlight this burning issue, our next policy event in the European Parliament, “Clean heat for homes – securing a just energy transition to reduce the EU’s legacy reliance on wood burning,” will take place on 18 February 2025. Organised alongside coalition member Fern, and hosted by MEPs Sigrid Friis (Renew, Denmark) and Ville Niinistö (Greens, Finland), we’ll be talking about a just transition in the heating sector and ways to support EU residents to access clean and affordable home heating.
Clean, affordable heat for all
Warm and healthy homes are not a luxury but a necessity, and clean heat solutions must be made accessible to all. In 2023, 41 million EU citizens (9.3% of the total population) could not afford adequate heating. While in some cases wood may currently be cheaper than other heating sources such as heat pumps or solar thermal, it is also a fuel which pollutes the air and degrades forests and public health.
Air pollution is the top environmental threat to health in Europe, and everyone is vulnerable to its impacts. Wood burning releases health-harming pollutants such as CO2, PM10 and PM 2.5, methane, carbon monoxide and more.The cumulated effects of these pollutants increase the risk of circulatory and respiratory illness, especially for the elderly, children and those already facing health inequalities. Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) accounted for 253,000 deaths in 2021. PM pollution predominantly comes from domestic heating using solid fuels like coal or wood, accounting for 62% of PM2.5 and 43% of PM10 pollution according to a new report from the European Court of Auditors.
A sustainable bioeconomy
About half the wood logged in the EU is currently burned for energy, while the rest is reserved for material uses, according to the JRC. In her speech on 14 January, Commissioner Roswall highlighted the potential of the bioeconomy and vowed to unleash the economic potential of forests and biomass in a sustainable way. She expressed ambitions to scale up industries that rely on woody biomass, but, while some products effectively help store carbon through their use of wood, burning biomass to generate heat and electricity releases that carbon into the atmosphere. In 2022, according to the EEA, 16.6% of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions were from biomass.
Wood resources are limited across Europe, with global demand continuing to rise. There is not enough wood for all the industry sectors which plan to use biomass as an alternative to their current raw materials. If Europe is to scale up its bioeconomy, it must encourage judicious wood use in ways that do not accelerate the climate crisis and harm the health of its citizens. Operations to burn biomass in the energy sector also rely heavily on government support to cover growing costs. In 2020, Member States paid subsidies of EUR 16bn to energy operators for burning wood.
Therefore, transitioning to clean, accessible, and affordable heating solutions is essential for meeting EU public health and climate goals, fostering equity across the EU. Join us at the “Clean heat for homes” event on 18 February to explore actionable strategies for securing clean heat for all.