Burn Right campaign

Certain countries, including Nordic countries and the United States, have a long history of addressing solid fuel heating stove emissions for health reasons through regulations and educational campaigns. The Burn Right campaign aims to leverage these past experiences.

The campaign focuses on raising consciousness of domestic wood heating as a source of black carbon and particle pollution, adding climate considerations into existing campaigns that focus solely on air quality impacts. Such consciousness has the potential to spur additional consumer action.

The campaign targets consumers in countries where solid fuel combustion for residential heating is a common practice, as well as heat stove manufacturers to incentivize production of cleaner burning stoves.

A successful Burn Right campaign was conducted in Chile in 2017, and the Swedish EPA co-funded a Burn Right campaign during the 2017-18 burning season. Plans are underway to launch a campaign for the northern hemisphere in partnership with the World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Arctic Council that will emphasize the impact of black carbon emissions on ice sheets and glaciers as well as the health and economic benefits of “burning right.” 

Consultations are planned with France and Germany for national campaigns that follow the Swedish model, given the scale of emissions and influence of both countries on European standards, including work with the LRTAP Convention.