ACT Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment Sophie Lewis recommends wood heater ban to improve health outcomes

The commissioner has called for a target date for the replacement of wood heaters with electric alternatives in all suburbs except rural areas, mirroring the ACT government's plan to end the use of gas.

The recommendations have followed an investigation undertaken by the office of Commissioner Sophie Lewis into the health and environmental impacts of wood heaters in the ACT. An investigation report was tabled in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday and the ACT government is required to respond formally within six months.

Environment Minister Rebecca Vassarotti said the report, on top of the numerous letters she receives from impacted Canberrans, demonstrates more needed to be done to ensure policy and regulation of wood heaters properly addressed their negative impacts.

"The commissioner's report provides compelling evidence that the current approach to managing the air quality impacts from wood heaters in the ACT is insufficient to protect human health and the environment of the ACT from issues arising from wood heaters," she said.

"It also highlights the changing global science around what are considered safe airborne fine particulate levels for human health as part of air quality standards."

Dr Lewis has called for the ban on the installation of new wood heaters in all homes, with exclusions only being extended to properties in rural areas.

Home owners would also be required to remove existing wood heaters before a property could be sold.

The report pointed to World Health Organisation research which found outdoor air pollution was a leading environmental cause of cancer deaths.

"Current research suggests that there is no level of pollution at which health impacts do not occur," the report says.

The commissioner pointed to its 2019 State of the Environment Report which found wood heaters were responsible more than 80 per cent of the time when particle levels exceeding the daily acceptable amount in Tuggeranong, between 2015 and 2018.

"Particles are associated with increased respiratory symptoms, aggravation of asthma, increased mortality and hospital admissions for heart and lung problems," the report found.

The commissioner said the detrimental environmental impact of wood heaters extended beyond climate change.

"Domestic wood heaters are considered the largest single source of black carbon in most Australian cities.

"A 2005 estimate suggests that approximately half of the firewood supply in Australia is collected privately from local forest and woodland on private property and roadsides, and is mainly from remnant vegetation in inland agricultural areas of south-eastern Australia.

"Even the legal removal of standing dead wood often has a negative impact, by reducing the availability of hollows and input of material to the litter layer which are critical for a range of ecosystems and species.

"The illegal collection of firewood from the territory's reserves is a recurring issue and is associated with penalties."

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Dr Lewis has also recommended a register of wood heaters be established to determine the number and age and the introduction of mandatory labelling explaining health risks when heaters and firewood is sold.

"Include explicit messaging about the health risks associated with wood heater usage in ACT government education and communication program," she recommends.

"Develop and apply empirical criteria for determining environmental harm or nuisance from wood heater smoke, such as assessment of smoke composition and air quality monitoring at the affected sites, as part of the EPA [Environment Protection Authority] investigations."

The 2019 State of the Environment Report recommended an increase in air-quality monitoring stations in the ACT and an urgent assessment of air pollutant emissions from diffuse sources.

The ACT Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment has called for a reconsideration of those recommendations as part of this investigation.

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