WHO Indoor Air Quality Guidelines
WHO emission and fuel guidelines defining what counts as clean household energy for cooking, heating, and lighting.
SDG 3 Good Health & Well-beingSDG 7 Affordable & Clean EnergyWhat is it?
WHO’s household fuel combustion guidelines set emission-rate targets for fine particulate matter and carbon monoxide, and discourage the household use of unprocessed coal and kerosene.
Why does it matter?
They give governments and programs an evidence-based benchmark for judging whether a stove or fuel is genuinely “clean” rather than merely “improved.”
How does it work?
The guidelines translate health-based air-quality targets into emission rates that stoves must meet, and they classify fuels by how safely they can be used indoors.
Who benefits?
Policymakers, program designers, and households benefit from a consistent yardstick that helps avoid investing in technologies that do not protect health.
Who may be disadvantaged?
Strict targets can exclude many affordable biomass stoves, which may frustrate low-income households and programs that cannot yet reach clean-fuel access.
What evidence exists?
The guidelines are built on systematic reviews of exposure-response evidence linking combustion pollutants to disease, and are periodically updated by WHO.
What tradeoffs exist?
Rigorous health protection versus present-day affordability: meeting the targets often requires clean fuels that many cannot yet access, creating a policy tension.
Common misconceptions
The guidelines are advisory benchmarks, not a product-certification pass/fail label; meeting them in a lab does not guarantee clean air in a real kitchen with mixed stove use.
What you can do next
See how improved cookstoves are assessed against these targets.