Air quality, energy and health
The unit provides technical support to WHO’s Member States in the development of normative guidance, tools and provision of authoritative advice on health issues related to air pollution and its sources. The unit leads monitoring and reporting on global trends and changes in health outcomes associated with actions taken to address air pollution at the national, regional and global scales.
Guidance and tools
The WHO Guidelines for Indoor Air Quality: Household Fuel Combustion, developed and peer-reviewed by scientists from around the world, provide practical recommendations for reducing the burden of household air pollution. The WHO Guidelines are based on evidence on fuel use, emission and human exposure levels, health risks, intervention impacts, and policy considerations. Recommendations include device and fuel emission rates for PM2.5 and CO, strategies for prioritizing the adoption of clean fuels or transitional fuels and technologies that offer substantial health benefits, avoiding unprocessed coal as a household fuel, and discouraging household use of kerosene.
For more information
Featured publication | 21 January 2014
WHO Guidelines for indoor air quality: Household fuel...
The guidelines provide background information and guidance to (inter)national and local authorities in the process of risk assessment.
The WHO has also published the following air quality guidelines
Tools
WHO developed the Clean Household Energy Solutions Toolkit (CHEST) to help countries implement the WHO Guidelines for Indoor Air Quality: Household Fuel Combustion. CHEST contains tools that policymakers and program implementers can use to promote clean household energy. The toolkit is composed of six modules that can help countries develop household energy action plans: 1) Conducting stakeholder mapping and situational assessment, 2) Identifying technological and policy interventions that address local energy needs, 3) Setting national standards, 4) Monitoring and evaluating clean energy interventions, 5) Engaging the health sector in promoting clean household energy use, and 6) Raising awareness about household air pollution and potential solutions. Tools contained within the CHEST modules include:
- Household Energy Assessment Rapid Tool (HEART): The HEART tool provides a template for mapping household energy-related stakeholders from government ministries (e.g. Ministries of Energy, Environment, Finance and Health), private sector, civil society and consumers, and for conducting a national assessment of the national household energy and health situation. (Module 1).
- Benefits of Action to Reduce Household Air Pollution (BAR-HAP): Allows users to model the costs and benefits that would result from different policy interventions that promote the transition from polluting to cleaner fuels. (Module 2).
- Household Multiple Emissions Sources (HOMES): Estimates levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) that would result from the use of up to three different stoves, heaters, or lighting devices. (Module 2).
- Performance Target (PT) Model: A tool that can be used to determine locally-specific stove emission rates to achieve air quality and health outcomes associated with the ISO tiers of performance. (Module 3).
- Core Questions on Household Energy Use: A set of standardized and validated questions that can be integrated into national surveys to evaluate household use of fuels and technologies for cooking, heating, and lighting. (Module 4).
- Training toolkit on air pollution and health for the health workforce: Includes training modules with information on the health impacts of air pollution, strategies for reducing exposure to air pollution, and tips for engaging with communities to promote air pollution reduction. (Module 5).
- Data on household air pollution and health. The WHO Global Health Observatory includes data on fuels used for household cooking and the associated number of deaths and disability-adjusted life years caused by household air pollution. (Module 1).
Other resources
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has developed three protocols related to clean cooking technologies through a consensus process involving stakeholders from around the world:
- Protocol for conducting laboratory evaluations of stove performance, including air pollution emissions, energy efficiency, safety, and durability (ISO 19867-1:2018 Clean cookstoves and clean cooking solutions — Harmonized laboratory test protocols — Part 1: Standard test sequence for emissions and performance, safety and durability).
- Protocol for conducting field evaluations of stove usage, usability, fuel consumption, energy consumption, power, emissions, safety, durability, and household air pollution. (ISO 19869:2019 Clean cookstoves and clean cooking solutions — Field testing methods for cookstoves).
- Voluntary performance targets for rating stoves into tiers of performance based on thermal efficiency, fine particulate matter emissions, carbon monoxide emissions, safety, and durability. (ISO/TR 19867-3:2018: Clean cookstoves and clean cooking solutions — Harmonized laboratory test protocols — Part 3: Voluntary performance targets for cookstoves based on laboratory testing).
- The Fact sheet on Household Air Pollution summarizes evidence on the burden of household air pollution, including health, environmental, livelihoods, and other impacts.