Turning IAQ advocacy into action
As part of Carrier’s Commercial HVAC team, Matt Maleki, Business Development Manager and Indoor Air Quality Specialist, champions Carrier’s ongoing commitment to healthier indoor environments. Here, he discusses why the BESA global IAQ pledge marks a pivotal moment for the industry and how defining a practical ‘Step One’ could turn awareness and intent into meaningful action.
When the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) joined 150 worldwide organisations in signing the Global Pledge for Healthy Indoor Air, it felt like a landmark moment for the HVAC industry. This unified commitment recognises that the air inside our buildings is equally important to our health as outdoor air, though often less visible. Yet, as encouraging as the pledge is, it also highlights the collective challenge we now face: translating shared ambition into measurable, everyday improvements.
Across the UK, regulation is tightening and awareness is growing. Awaab’s Law, which came into effect in October 2025, will hold social landlords to account for mould and damp, marking an important step towards healthier living environments. But the truth is that indoor air quality (IAQ) does not stop at housing associations or rented homes. It affects every building where people live, work, learn, and recover. The conversation must therefore shift from pledges and position statements to practical, achievable steps that begin improving air quality today.
The momentum behind IAQ
The public conversation around air has changed dramatically over the past decade. What was once the domain of engineers and environmental scientists has now become part of mainstream thinking. Campaigners such as Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, following the tragic loss of her nine-year-old daughter Ella, attributed to air pollution, have helped bring a more personal perspective to the issue. Their work reminds us that air pollution, indoors or out, has consequences measured in both statistics and lives.
This awareness has created momentum that regulators, developers, and manufacturers can’t ignore. Employers are beginning to view IAQ as part of their duty of care, and tenants are asking questions about ventilation, filtration, and the hidden systems that make a space feel ‘fresh’. In that sense, the BESA pledge is timely. It signals alignment across sectors and a willingness to act.
But awareness alone will not clean the air. If we stop at pledges, we risk congratulating ourselves for setting intentions rather than achieving outcomes. The real work lies in defining what progress looks like and making sure it’s realistic for everyone involved, from manufacturers and developers to specifiers, contractors, and facilities managers.
The frameworks we have and the one we still need
The UK’s regulatory landscape already acknowledges IAQ, but mostly through the lens of ventilation and energy efficiency. Part F of the Building Regulations, written in 2010, establishes the minimum airflow rates and design principles to prevent buildings from becoming airtight boxes, and a 2021 amendment introduced CO2 monitoring for new dwellings. Part O, introduced in 2022, addresses overheating, a crucial issue as our homes become better insulated and summers become hotter. Together, they provide the structural legislation for how air moves through a building.
But what they don’t yet do is guarantee the quality of that air. Apart from CO2 monitoring in some new dwellings, there is currently no binding requirement to monitor pollutants, no consistent method to demonstrate filtration performance, and no mechanism to link IAQ data to system control or efficiency. The forthcoming updates to Part B, covering fire safety, may indirectly influence IAQ through ventilation and fire-safety coordination, but the direction of travel remains piecemeal.
We can see where it’s heading. Net Zero 2050 and the UK’s wider sustainability agenda are already prompting policymakers to adopt more explicit IAQ metrics. Research into pollutants from cooking, cleaning, and heating is informing proposals that could one day mandate the use of monitoring or purification systems. But waiting for perfect legislation could cost time, efficiency, and health. The knowledge exists, the technology exists, and the cost barriers are falling. The opportunity and responsibility sit with us.
Step One: a pragmatic path forward
I believe the industry is ready to define a voluntary ‘Step One’ baseline for IAQ. It would not be a sweeping overhaul of how we design and operate buildings, but a practical, evidence-based starting point that everyone can understand and apply. Step One means every building should, at a minimum, monitor CO2 and PM2.5, apply ISO16890 filtration, and enable responsive ventilation control.
At its heart lies a straightforward principle: measure, respond, and improve. To do this, we need to make air quality visible. Data on carbon dioxide, particulate matter, and other IAQ indicators should be collected using reliable sensors—not as a box-ticking exercise, but as a feedback loop that informs real decisions. From there, buildings can respond automatically through demand-controlled ventilation, adjusting airflow according to system occupancy and pollutant levels. Add to that effective filtration, verified under ISO16890—which classifies filters by particulate matter (PM) removal efficiency—to capture PM10 and PM2.5, and we begin to see measurable differences in health, comfort, and building efficiency.
The systems already exist. What’s missing is consistency and confidence: a shared understanding that these measures are the baseline, not the gold standard. A collaborative approach can highlight what can be achieved and how effective that could be. Once widely adopted, Step One could be the bridge between aspiration and regulation, proving that progress is possible long before it becomes mandatory.
From data to decisions
We have spent years equipping our buildings with sensors, yet much of that intelligence sits unused. Data alone changes nothing; its value lies in how we act on it. If a monitor identifies poor air quality but no one assesses and improves the system, the information is wasted. The same is true for maintenance logs and filter performance data that never leave a clipboard.
The more we use these insights, the more meaningful they become. When ventilation automatically responds to rising CO2 levels, or when filter-change intervals are based on measured performance rather than fixed schedules, the data closes the loop. Occupant wellbeing improves, energy consumption falls, and confidence in building systems grows.
The energy connection is particularly important. Studies, supported by CIBSE and the International Energy Agency (IEA), show that HVAC&R systems may, on average, account for well over half of a commercial building’s energy use, with one study estimating this figure at more than 60%. Automated control strategies that vary airflow based on real-time IAQ can reduce consumption by as much as 40%. In other words, clean air and efficiency are not opposing goals. A healthy building is an efficient building.
Learning from the regulations we already have
Part F presents an interesting model for structuring IAQ improvement. It uses a tiered approach, matching ventilation measures to a building’s characteristics. We could apply the same principle to air quality itself: a staged progression that recognises where each building starts and what is achievable within its constraints is key. Imagine a roadmap with incremental steps rather than a single all-encompassing standard. Step One could focus on monitoring and basic filtration. Step Two might integrate automation, increased IAQ monitoring, and energy optimisation. Step Three could introduce continuous auditing and predictive maintenance. By viewing improvement as a journey rather than a destination, we make participation possible for every project, not just the newest or most advanced. Crucially, this approach also allows data to guide policy.
Bridging indoors and outdoors
True progress on air quality requires both action and advocacy. That principle underpins Carrier’s collaboration with Pollution Solution on Roadvent, a road emissions-capture system to be installed in Lewisham in 2026 that removes road pollutants and has demonstrated reductions in exposure of up to 91% at child height in pilot testing. It’s a project that moves beyond pledges and into measurable results. The same mindset should guide the regulatory approach to IAQ. The technologies may differ, but the purpose is shared: to make the air around people visibly, measurably better.
A human-first call to action
Ultimately, this conversation is about people. Behind every data point is someone trying to focus at their desk, recover in a hospital bed, or rest in a well-sealed home. Clean air is the foundation of comfort, productivity, and health. It shouldn’t be a premium feature available only in the most advanced buildings; it should be the starting point for all of them.
The industry has studied IAQ extensively. We understand the science and the technology. What we need now is the confidence to implement the first step while we continue refining the rest. If we can collectively define and adopt that Step One baseline, we will have taken the most important stride of all: moving from discussion to demonstration. And once people begin to experience fewer complaints of tiredness, improved focus, lower absenteeism, and additional benefits for energy consumption and efficiency, the next steps will follow naturally.
Carrier welcomes collaboration across the supply chain, from developers and system designers to operators and policymakers, to help define a shared Step One baseline for IAQ. Together, we can turn shared intent into measurable progress.
