- As gas and electricity prices skyrocket, many households in Europe are turning to firewood as an alternative heating source this winter.
- In Bulgaria, where around half of the households use firewood in winter because it is the cheapest and most accessible fuel, one cubic metre of firewood has risen from €40-50 in 2021 to around €100-150, depending on the region.
- In Hungary, the government was forced to partially backtrack on an August decree that relaxed felling rules in protected areas and allowed younger trees to be harvested in forests fully owned by the state, now requiring that “the increased demand for firewood must [be met] primarily by the gradual harvesting of [non-native] acacia trees”.
Firewood prices, shortages spell cold winter for Europe’s poorest
