European Union. “No more gas stoves” in the EU? We explain

“The EU cares about us. Cooking only with electricity” – post of this content published On October 22, one of the anonymous users of the X platform (formerly Twitter). The illustration attached to the post was eye-catching: it combines a photo of a person getting ready to cook in the kitchen, with a gas burner highlighted in a red circle, with the information “No more gas stoves, another change to which we will be forced to adapt.” The entry has almost 58 thousand. views, nearly 790 users liked it and over 140 shared it.

Many Internet users commented critically on the reports presented in the post: “I have gas and I will not give up”; “I remember some time ago when people were told that no one wanted to take away gas burners”; “What about cooking, you will walk in the forest and look for roots because you won’t be able to afford the electricity bills”; “Everything is being done to cut people off from relatively cheap elements of life. It is supposed to be expensive, from the West, with a huge margin, and so that Wall Street can fund its wars. The average person will pay for everything. By force, of course, as in every communion. Now Western”; “War will come and only those who can burn wood will survive” (original spelling of the posts).

Some people praised the proposal: “It’s a good idea”; “Okay, I have bad memories of gas stoves”; “It’s high time.” However, others doubted its truthfulness: “But probably in the USA, not in the EU”; “Is this a joke?”; “Is there a date given?”; “Give me some details about when and how”; “This text has been circulating for some time, but I haven’t found a directive on this topic.”

Is the European Union really aiming to replace gas stoves with electric ones, as the author of the popular post suggests? We checked.

As we have verified, the illustration and accompanying caption are the title and photo from article published on the Polish Observer website. The title is: “No more gas stoves, another change to which we will be forced to adapt.” The material, although dated October 20 and updated two days later, was most likely published at the beginning of the month. Links to it on Facebook have earlier dates.

Paweł Usiadek, Confederation’s candidate in the Sejm elections, running as a candidate in the Płock district, posted a recording on social media (TikTok and Facebook) in which he read fragments of this article. He published the video on October 4. (Despite collecting over 13,000 votes, Usiadek did not get into parliament).

The portal referred to material from the Polish Observer website wrc.net.plreprint published oen.pl. The message also spread on the website Wykop.pl – there it appeared in a post titled “Gas stoves will become banned in Europe”. A similar text also appeared on the website Strefabiznesu.pl Fri “Gas stoves will be banned in the EU? It is possible that they will not only be prohibited from using them, but even owning them.” It is dated October 6.

The author of the article on the Polish Observer website begins with the statement: “Gas stoves will be banned in Europe.” It continues: “Traditional cookers will become a thing of the past, it’s only a matter of time. Cooking takes too much time, uses too much energy and pollutes the atmosphere. We must prepare for a new era, as all cookers in EU homes will have to be adapted to new standards “In practice, this means that they will have to be replaced.” It was not specified what new standards were involved and when they would come into force.

The author then presents the disadvantages of gas stoves and the advantages of induction hobs powered by electricity: “Gas stoves generate pollution and are dangerous. The situation is different with induction hobs. Thanks to the new system, there is no risk of fire, which eliminates the risk of flame extinguishment and the risk of explosion. Moreover, if we forget to turn off the induction hob, it will turn off itself after a few seconds if there is no contact with the pot” (original spelling). At this point, the author begins to list the advantages of induction hobs, and references to this type of devices are made eight times in the short article. The article resembles native advertising – it involves placing content promoting a product/service as an integral part of the media material without indicating that the text contains a promotion.

Later in the article, the author assures that “the process of replacing cookers may take several years”, but in the next sentence she admits that in this matter “official guidance has not yet been presented.” There is also information that “the use of gas stoves is being introduced by the United States,” and New York is to be the first state “to approve a ban on the installation of traditional stoves, starting from 2026.”

The last paragraph reads: “There is no obligation to replace traditional cookers with induction hobs in the European Union yet, but it is expected that it will be introduced in the near future. Let us remind you that in the interests of environmental protection, starting from January 1, 2024, traditional gas stoves will be banned throughout the EU. After the transition period, they will have to be replaced with heat pumps or a heating system using renewable energy.

We have not found reliable press reports in English or Polish that would confirm the European Union’s alleged plans to ban gas cookers or to replace them with other cookers, including electric ones.

As for the USA: in January this year, journalists from “The New York Times” they described, how concerns by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) about the health risks posed by gas stoves sparked a backlash from the oil and gas industry and its allies in the Republican Party. White House deputy press secretary Michael Kikukawa said, “The president [Joe Biden] does not support a ban on the use of gas stoves.” The authors recalled that since 2019, Berkeley, California, was the first city in the United States to introduce prohibition use of natural gas in new buildings. In the following years, other American cities adopted similar solutions, including: San Francisco (2020) and New York (2021). In May 2023, such a ban will be introduced accepted throughout New York State (effective in 2026 for new buildings under seven stories, and in 2029 for taller new buildings).

IN Netherlands Since 2018, there has been a ban on connecting newly built houses and apartments to the gas network.

There are no draft regulations on the websites of the European Parliament and the European Commission that would ban the use of gas cookers or require their replacement in EU countries. The press office responded to a question regarding this matter The EC replied to Konkret24: “The European Commission does not plan to ban the use of gas stoves.” It was only noted that work is underway to “update the framework regulations for energy design and labeling [urządzeń]to increase the availability of more efficient cooking appliances on the EU market.

The European Commission’s spokeswoman for energy, Giulia Bedini, denied the thesis contained in the Polish Observer’s article that “gas stoves generate pollution and are also dangerous.” He cites the provision of Regulation 2016/426/EU on gas appliances (GAR): “gas appliances must be designed and manufactured in such a way that the combustion products do not contain unacceptable concentrations of substances harmful to health. The appliance itself cannot, during normal use, cause concentrations of carbon monoxide or other substances harmful to health.

The thesis about the EU’s alleged plans to ban gas stoves may have its source – erroneous – in the regulations on the energy performance of buildings currently being discussed in the EP. However, they do not assume a ban on the use of existing gas furnaces, but require that new buildings be zero-emission from 2028. “The position of the European Parliament is not final, because the text of the agreement on this matter is the subject of discussions between the Parliament and the EU member states. The final regulations will be the result of these negotiations,” informs Konkret24, the EP spokesman’s office.