Are gas stoves bad for your health and the environment?

Gas stoves have been popular since the early 1900s, but with potentially damaging effects on our health and climate, is it time to change?

While natural gas is considered ‘natural’ in the sense that it occurs naturally in the earth's crust, the process of extracting and transporting it can have negative environmental and health impacts.

The drilling process can disrupt ecosystems and contaminate water sources, and the burning of natural gas releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change.

Terms like ‘natural gas’ have led us to believe that gas cooking and heating is a better, cleaner way to do things, despite the fact that gas is a fossil fuel contributing to climate change and poor health outcomes.¹

Research shows that gas stoves can emit unvented gases and particles into the air, including carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, methane, nitrous oxide and particulate matter. All of these can be harmful to your health if you’re exposed to them at high concentrations.²

Unlike electric stoves (where the combustion occurs somewhere far away at a power plant), cooking with gas at home is the only time you’re ever likely to burn fuel in the kitchen.

Cooking with gas appliances can give off high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and additional tiny particles that have been said to irritate the eyes and nose, and cause inflammation to the airway.² And according to the American Lung Association, it can also reduce lung function and exacerbate other respiratory issues like asthma by penetrating deep into the lungs, and even entering the bloodstream.³

A growing body of evidence has linked nitrogen dioxide from burning gas in the home to many respiratory illnesses and allergies, particularly in kids.⁴ Research has shown that long-term exposure to nitrogen dioxide from gas stoves could be linked to asthma and chronic lung disease. This includes one study which revealed that at the time of the study (2024), long term exposure to nitrogen dioxide from gas and propane stoves was the cause of asthma in around 50,000 children in the United States alone.⁵

A recent study also found that natural gas used in homes contained varying levels of volatile organic compounds that when leaked are known to be toxic and linked to cancer.⁶

More than 75% of methane emissions from gas stovetops leak into the home while the appliance is turned off. Both methane and nitrogen dioxide contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone and smog, worsening climate change.⁷

Not only is natural gas a major source of indoor air pollution, it’s also a potent non-renewable fossil fuel driving climate change, so it comes as a double threat for Australians.

According to Dr Jennifer Rayner, Head of Advocacy at the Climate Council, “gas is a fossil fuel mainly made up of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that worsens climate change”.

She adds that the other planet-warming greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide (which comes from burning gas), and even though methane might dissipate more quickly than carbon dioxide, it’s the more potent of the 2.

“Gas can be as dirty, and dirtier, than coal-fired power stations. This is because the main component of gas, methane, is a greenhouse gas nearly 100 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term,” she says.

In real-world figures, experts have estimated that methane leaking from all the gas stoves in the US has the same climate impact as about 500,000 petrol-powered cars.⁸

Natural gas extraction can contaminate water sources and can lead to the destruction of ecosystems and habitats, including forests and wetlands, as well as disrupting wildlife populations.

When it’s generated from fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas, electricity isn’t ever going to win first place for efforts to help the environment. But if it’s generated from renewable sources such as solar, wind, hydro and geothermal power, it’s well ahead of gas.

These sources have much lower environmental impacts and are considered a much cleaner and sustainable way of sourcing energy.

“Electric stoves can be powered by renewable electricity right now,” says Dr Rayner.

Australia’s electricity grid is rapidly transitioning to a renewable-powered system, and reports suggest that almost 40% of Australia’s grid power comes from renewables already. This is projected to rise to 50% by 2025 and reach 73% by 2030.⁹

One way to reduce indoor pollution is to improve the ventilation in your home.

This means ensuring you have extraction fans (AKA rangehoods) over gas stoves, flues for gas heaters if possible, and opening windows or using ceiling fans when cooking.

You could also consider making the switch to electric cooking and heating appliances or installing an induction cooktop. While still electric, these appliances use less energy and are said to be as efficient, if not quicker, at heating than gas.¹⁰

An air purifier with a high efficiency particulate air filter (HEPA) is also a great way to help improve the air quality, though they don’t remove all air pollutants.