EU:Proposals before the European Parliament to seek a ban on the sale of outdoor patio heaters yesterday provoked a storm of opposition from British MEPs.
The parliament is expected shortly to back a non-binding resolution calling on the European Commission to set a timetable for abolishing goods with low energy-efficiency ratings which specifically names outdoor patio heaters.
But a ban on outdoor heaters as part of the battle against climate change could cost the UK pub and catering trade £250 million (€336m) a year in lost trade, according to the Publican Market Report 2007.
A climate change expert said yesterday the impact of patio heaters on global warming is "very minimal", with the impact almost non-existent in the case of domestic models used in homes.
Plasma televisions produce more carbon dioxide (CO2) than patio heaters when normal use patterns are compared, insisted Eric Johnson, national expert reviewer for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and managing director of Atlantic Consulting.
The report said the pub trade invested up to £86.5 million (€116m) on outdoor heaters in the last year to attract customers after the smoking ban obliged them to drink out of doors if they wanted to carry on smoking.
More serious, though, said the report, is the potential long-term loss of income for pubs, cafes and restaurants which rely on an all-weather outside area to increase profits.
Dr Johnson's assessment is based on British government figures putting emissions from all domestic patio heaters at 22,200 tonnes of CO2 - 0.002 per cent of the total UK CO2 emissions.
Televisions in the UK produce 4.6 million tonnes of CO2 each year and, it is claimed, on standby mode alone, it would take an equivalent of more than five patio heaters to produce as much CO2 as one TV does in a year.
The UK Independence Party condemned the bid to ban patio heaters as "a concerted attempt to ostracise and penalise smokers".
Robert Feal Martinez, landlord of the Carpenters Arms near Swindon, Wilts said: "As a publican I find it quite ironic that a European Commission agenda has created a situation in the UK where smokers have been forced out into the cold, and now the European Parliament wants them to be subjected to inhumane conditions.
"Is it any wonder that the people of Britain want a vote on the EU reform treaty?".