The Global Commission on Healthy Indoor Air launched the Global Framework for Action: Advancing Healthy Indoor Air through Societal Engagement and Market Transformation, a landmark global roadmap designed to elevate and embed healthy indoor air as a public health imperative and a market priority, ultimately institutionalizing it as an everyday expectation in buildings everywhere.

John Barrett, Chairman Emeritus at ISSA, the association for cleaning and facility solutions, served as a Commissioner on the landmark effort, contributing expertise to help shape the strategic levers and actionable recommendations designed to drive global market transformation and public health impact.

Unveiled during Climate Week in New York, just one year after the Commission’s launch at the United Nations, the Framework provides a comprehensive and coordinated strategy for tackling one of the world’s most consequential yet underrecognized public health challenges. It calls on governments, multilateral organizations, public health institutions, businesses, building practitioners, researchers, financial institutions, professional organizations and communities to move beyond isolated interventions and align the policies, investments, innovations and everyday decisions that shape the air people breathe indoors.

The Framework draws on the latest scientific evidence and a year-long collaborative process involving more than 200 Commissioners from over 40 countries, bringing together expertise and experience from dozens of disciplines and sectors. They developed 40 strategic focus areas and nearly 180 recommendations spanning the major levers of market transformation that can move healthy indoor air from growing awareness to widespread and sustained adoption. The Framework works toward a shared global vision: a future in which healthy indoor air is expected, measured, valued, financed, governed and continuously improved across all the places people live, learn, work and heal. Put simply, healthy indoor air should be the norm, not the exception.

“Last year, we came together at the United Nations to launch the Global Commission and affirm through the Global Pledge for Healthy Indoor Air that healthy indoor air is a fundamental human right,” said Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO of the International WELL Building Institute. “Today, we are putting that commitment into action. Over the past year, more than 200 leaders from more than 40 countries, including many of the world’s leading scientists, technical experts and advocates in healthy indoor air, have come together to build a first-of-its-kind global roadmap that aligns science, education, policy, innovation, investment and public demand. We did not need another report diagnosing the problem or explaining why it matters. We needed an actionable plan for changing the systems, markets and expectations that shape the air inside our buildings. That is what this Framework delivers: a practical path for leaders all around the world to align their efforts and uphold the right to healthy indoor air for everyone, everywhere.”

The launch comes at a moment of profound urgency and possibility. Household air pollution alone contributes to more than three million premature deaths each year, but mortality is only the starkest measure of a far wider toll. Poor indoor air increases the risk of respiratory and cardiovascular disease, worsens asthma and allergies, contributes to the spread of airborne infection, and undermines learning, cognitive performance, productivity and quality of life.

Nine Interconnected Levers of Action

The Framework, a shared strategic roadmap, shows how nine mutually reinforcing levers can shift markets, institutions, professional practice and public expectations. They include:

• Building awareness and public engagement
• Innovation, research and development
• Advocacy and policy development
• Education and training
• Driving demand and market incentives
• Financing and resource mobilization
• Codes, standards and leadership certifications
• Partnerships and collaboration
• Implementation, monitoring and evaluation

The levers are designed to reinforce one another. Research and evidence can inform standards and building practice. Innovation can affect technical feasibility, reach and cost. Policy can create demand and accountability. Financing can accelerate deployment. Education can build the workforce needed to deliver widespread improvements. Public awareness and trusted performance information can reinforce every other lever.

A Global Foundation for Country-Level Leadership

The Global Framework provides a common starting point, not a one-size-fits-all plan. Countries and communities can use the Framework to identify the actions most relevant to their governance structures, climates, building stocks, economic conditions and public health needs. The next phase of the Commission’s work will support national organizations and coalitions as they develop tailored Blueprints for Action that translate the Framework’s shared strategic direction into country-specific priorities, implementation pathways, financing approaches and stakeholder responsibilities. The Commission will continue mobilizing partnerships, strengthening professional capacity, supporting innovation and elevating healthy indoor air across national and international policy agendas.

The Global Framework for Action is available through the Global Commission on Healthy Indoor Air at wellcertified.com/global-framework-for-action.