Danish municipalities consider bans on older wood stoves amid air pollution concerns

Although wood stoves create a cozy atmosphere, older models significantly contribute to air pollution, leading to more deaths from pollution than traffic accidents. In light of this, a majority in the Danish parliament granted local municipalities the authority to ban wood stoves manufactured before 2008 last year. Søren Peschardt, chair of the Climate, Nature, and Environment Committee, emphasized that lawmakers should carefully consider their actions.

However, wood burning continues across many municipalities, with only Frederiksberg implementing a ban on June 17. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that only four other municipalities—Roskilde, Aarhus, Copenhagen, and Aalborg—are working towards similar bans.

Professor Torben Sigsgaard from Aarhus University has long advocated for a total ban on all wood stoves. He highlights that smoke from wood burning leads to approximately 240 premature deaths annually, whereas pollution from traffic is responsible for about 110. Sigsgaard asserts that banning wood stoves could save these lives and points out that wood smoke constitutes a significant portion of Denmark’s self-generated pollution.

Most air pollution in Denmark, however, originates from abroad, with an estimated 4,000 premature deaths linked to pollution each year—about 1,000 from domestic sources. Major contributors of Danish pollution include traffic, wood stoves, and agriculture.

Newer wood stoves produce less pollution, but even optimized models emit more pollution than gas heating systems. Sigsgaard warns that vulnerable populations, especially the elderly and children, are particularly affected by wood smoke.

In Vejle, local officials, including Peschardt, explained that they have focused their political energy on expanding district heating access rather than banning old stoves. The municipality lacks enough complaints from residents to justify such a ban, and no immediate plans for prohibition are in place.