Although the industry has been working intensively for years on the technical challenges of emission control and the emissions of modern fireplaces have been reduced 10-fold in type testing since the 1970s, completely emission-free combustion of solid fuels in single-room heating appliances is not possible. Nevertheless, according to the Federal Environment Agency, air pollution with pollutants has decreased significantly over the past 25 years.

In fact, the problem of air pollution from dust emissions from wood combustion has been significantly reduced in recent years by the introduction of the Ordinance on Small and Medium-Sized Combustion Plants (1. BImSchV). The 1st BImSchV has considerably tightened the limit values for new solid fuel combustion plants in two stages (2010 and 2015) and regulates transitional periods for old appliances that apply until 2025.

Since the majority of emissions are produced during the combustion process, the focus with regard to emission reduction was particularly on primary measures (design measures), such as the use of the most modern materials and the systematic flow of combustion air and flue gas. With success: for example, an optimised air supply and innovative combustion chamber linings reduce emissions by up to 85 % compared to old appliances.

For some years now, no German measuring station has exceeded the annual mean limit for particulate matter. Recently, the city of Stuttgart announced that the fine dust pollution here has decreased significantly in recent years, i.e. the limit value for maximum pollution has been continuously undercut. In Hesse, too, significantly less climate-damaging gases were emitted than in the past, although 600,000 more inhabitants now live in Hesse and the gross domestic product has almost doubled.

Against this background, the association continues to be involved in the technical optimisation of combustion technology and, together with its member companies, is also involved in international and national standardisation work and standardisation of single room heating appliances, among other things, and is a member of numerous international committees and standardisation projects. It also worked closely with TÜV Süd on a "certification procedure for low-emission stoves and other fireplaces". The TÜV seal enables customers to recognise particularly environmentally friendly and low-emission fireplaces.

Since the emission behaviour of single-room fireplaces for logs nevertheless depends to a large extent on the operator and his behaviour (what wood is used, what size, how it is lit, etc.), the association is also involved in the area of customer education and promotes the tested quality of regionally available firewood from sustainable forestry. Thus, emission and environmental protection has become a central task of the association.