Nitrogen Reduction, Recycling and Reuse (Environment and Climate Change Committee Report)

Baroness Whitaker Excerpts

Tuesday 6th January 2026 Grand Committee

[Baroness Whitaker (Lab)]

My Lords, I too am grateful for the chance to speak in the gap. I concur with all the thanks given to such expert and helpful colleagues. My focus is on the impact of nitrogen dioxide on the indoor environment, as this has been less fully considered than the impact of nitrogen on the outside environment.

We noted the lack of precise standards for these emissions from gas cookers, domestic boilers and wood-burning stoves, and the lack of statutory underpinning for national and international guidelines. We had evidence from academic experts and local authorities of the effect on respiratory and cardiac health, in particular on the incidence and severity of asthma among adults as well as children. Our national limits are four times higher than the WHO guidelines, but we saw a reference to 4,000 premature deaths and 16,000 cases of asthma from nitrogen dioxide emanating from gas cookers. Further research and incentives for changing to electricity were sought. Over half of households cook with gas in this country, and it is widely used in commercial kitchens and schools, where there is no monitoring. The Government acknowledged the increased risks, and we are grateful for the tone of Minister Hardy’s replies to our letters. She also described commissioned research which established that there was not enough data to set standards but that there were grounds for encouraging electrification. The solution was to wait for the revised clean air strategy in 2028.

Under the Environment Act 2021, we are required to set evidence-based and achievable targets to ensure lasting improvement to public health, but 2028 is a long way off for those children whose asthma risk will be increased by their gas cookers. Should we not emulate the progress in London’s outdoor air quality, now for the first time with legal limits for nitrogen oxide, and establish proper data to set standards and devise their implementation, rather than waiting for examples of ill health to accumulate? What consideration can be given to providing incentives to change gas for electric cookers?