First-ever United Nations High-level Side Event on Healthy Indoor Air Kicks Off Multi-year International Movement
September 23, 2025, New York, NY – More than 160 national leaders, global health organizations, universities, and advocacy organizations from more than 25 countries across every continent but Antarctica today signed the history-making Global Pledge for Healthy Indoor Air, calling clean indoor air “a fundamental human right for protecting health and safeguarding well-being.” Watch the event here.
Polluted air is the second leading risk factor for death — and about 40 percent of global air pollution deaths result from poor air quality in indoor environments — where research shows people spend up to 90 percent of their time. This crisis contributes to respiratory disease (including asthma and lung cancer), heart disease, infectious disease transmission, and cognitive impairment, in addition to potential impacts from carcinogens. And while outdoor air quality is regulated in many countries, there are no widespread standards for indoor air quality, even five years after the COVID-19 global pandemic began. As climate impacts of extreme heat and wildfire increase and intensify, exacerbating ozone and other forms of air pollution and driving people inside more often, cleaner indoor air is more important than ever.
The Global Pledge for Healthy Indoor Air was signed at a United Nations High-level Side Event on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York City.
Led by France and Montenegro, and convened by the Australian Academy of Science, the Burnet Institute, Brown University School of Public Health, and The OSLUV Project, the Global Pledge calls on signatories to recognize the importance of healthy indoor air to safeguard health for all, enhance pandemic preparedness, uplift climate change resilience of the built environment, ensure workplace health safety, and improve care for all across public spaces, especially children, those with chronic illness, and marginalized communities. The Global Pledge launches an international effort to advocate for action, collaborate across sectors and borders, exchange knowledge, educate and empower the public, and grow the movement.
Speakers at the event highlighted the historic first.
“For Montenegro, the right to a healthy environment is not an abstract principle – it is a constitutional value and a commitment we live by,” said H.E. Mr Ervin Ibrahimović, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro. “Through our national initiative to improve indoor air quality in schools, we are working to protect the health of our children, and empower our education system — and we are leading the world in a commitment to global public health and climate resilience.”
“Our ambition is not only to meet standards, but to set them – to show leadership in creating healthier environments for learning and living,” said H.E. Anđela Jakšić-Stojanović PhD, Minister of Education, Science and Innovation of Montenegro. “Over the past months, we conducted an analysis of every school building in Pljevlja. Classrooms, ventilation systems, windows, heating – all of it was assessed. For the first time, we created a comprehensive database that captures the condition of learning environments and the air quality inside them. By monitoring temperature, humidity, ventilation, contaminants, and lighting in our schools, we are building the first system of its kind in the region.”
“Indoor air quality is a right,” said Antoine Saint Denis, Director for European and international affairs, French ministry of Labor, Health, Solidarities and Families. “Its protection is a collective responsibility. Together, through joint and sustained efforts, we can build a healthier, more equitable, and more resilient future.”
“Healthy buildings represent the single greatest public health opportunity of this century,” said Professor Joseph G. Allen, Director, Healthy Buildings Program, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “For too long, the air we breathe indoors has been an afterthought, yet it has profound impacts on our health. This moment marks the beginning of the end of the sick building era.”
“The Australian Academy of Science is proud to be collaborating with global leaders at the UN to galvanise global action to improve indoor air quality,” said Anna-Maria Arabia, Chief Executive, Australian Academy of Science. “The science of indoor air quality is well understood and the solutions to address poor air quality are available. Political leadership is required to prioritise action that will make every workplace safer and healthier, and that will better prepare us for pandemics and climate change. The collective cost of inaction in loss of health and productivity is in the billions in any one nation. It’s time to act.”
“My generation has been doubly deprived: our institutions failed to deliver on the air quality revolution promised at the beginning of the pandemic, and they got away with it because most of us — despite spending 90% of our time indoors — don’t even know what we’re missing,” said Violet Affleck, Youth Advocate. “This UN event is the first of its kind to address this silent crisis, and it sends a really powerful signal that this is the time for anyone who cares about climate resilience, public health, or the quality and safety of our schools to mobilize for clean indoor air.”
“Our knowledge and understanding of what it means to have Healthy Indoor Air brings a responsibility to act, not just in self-interest, but out of care for others,” said Traci Hanegan, Healthcare Lead, ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force. “Let us leverage technical expertise, strive for cross-discipline solutions, and actively uphold public trust. There will be shouts of joy as this momentum stretches worldwide.”
“Buildings should improve our health, not compromise it,” said Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO, International WELL Building Institute (IWBI). “Clean, healthy air is not a privilege — it’s a fundamental human right and should be the baseline every indoor environment should provide. The Global Pledge for Healthy Indoor Air affirms that right and underscores what the science has long made clear: our homes, schools, workplaces and public spaces can — and must — serve as engines of health, well-being and equity. For more than a decade, IWBI has championed the global movement for healthy buildings and healthy organizations, working alongside governments, institutions and industry leaders to make healthy indoor air the standard, not the exception.”
“The devastating effects of poor indoor air quality around the world are staggering,” said Professor Kerry A. Kinney, President, International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate (ISIAQ). “Fortunately, the benefits to wellbeing, health and productivity from good indoor air quality are equally stunning. We must work together to develop the scientific foundation needed to provide evidence-based solutions to ensure clean indoor air for all communities.”
Professor Lidia Morawska FAA, Director, Thrive at the Queensland University of Technology, recently questioned why Australian schools have lower standards for air quality monitoring, ventilation and filtration than many greenhouses and pet shelters. “Indoor air quality is a glaring gap in Australia’s approach to public health. A nationally coordinated process of reform is required to ensure all Australians receive the benefits of cleaner indoor air.”
“Clean indoor air is not a luxury; it is a fundamental human right,” said Sotirios Papathanasiou, Lead Author, Global Open Air Quality Standards (GO AQS). “By establishing common and open IAQ standards, we are not just creating regulations—we are building a foundation of fairness and shared prosperity, ensuring that every person, everywhere, has a path to thrive in the places they live, work, and learn.”
“We all breathe the same air, but not with the same consequences,” said Plum Stone, Founder and CEO, The Safer Air Project. “For too long, people with chronic conditions have been put at risk because clean indoor air has not been recognised as a fundamental human right. The Safer Air Project has championed this as an issue of accessibility, and we’re delighted that today’s Global Pledge recognises it, because everyone deserves to breathe safely indoors.”
“The Global Pledge for Healthy Indoor Air is a key milestone on the world’s journey to recognize the impact of indoor environments on human health and advance partnerships and solutions to improve well-being,” said Peter Templeton, president and CEO, U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and GBCI. “USGBC is proud to be a signatory to the Global Pledge and committed to continue empowering global industry practitioners to deliver healthier environments through its education, credentialing, and certification programs, including the new LEED v5 green building standard.”
“We are honored to participate in this unprecedented United Nations event recognizing the importance of indoor air quality, and to pledge our shared commitment to healthy, sustainable indoor environments, including schools,” said Katherine H. Walsh, Boston Public Schools (BPS) Director of Planning, Engineering, Sustainability, & Environment. “We know that indoor air quality affects student learning outcomes, and student and staff health. BPS will continue to invest in IAQ strategies – from policy to infrastructure to community engagement – that will improve the health and wellness of our school communities and school environments.”
The co-founders of the Global Pledge for Healthy Indoor Air and airclub.org led the event:
“People spend 90 percent of their time indoors – yet schools, hospitals, workplaces, and transport are not guaranteed to have clean, healthy air,” said Professor Bronwyn King, Special Advisor – Clean Air, Burnet Institute. “In fact, indoor air is commonly found to be of poor quality, containing many hazards detrimental to health. The good news is that practical solutions already exist. This event will mark the first time the global indoor air community has convened at the United Nations, the rightful platform for such a crucial global issue that, if addressed, offers an extraordinary opportunity to improve health for all.”
“We have never before so clearly understood that the air inside our schools, homes, workplaces, and public gathering spots is so potentially dangerous, or potentially crucial to support circulatory, respiratory, cellular, and cognitive function,” said Dr Georgia Lagoudas, Senior Fellow, Brown University School of Public Health and Brown Pandemic Center. “And we have never before had such international momentum to make healthy indoor air a right and an expectation. We breathe in 20,000 times per day, most of that indoors. It’s time for health-based standards for indoor air — the invisible bond that connects us all.”
Also addressing the event were: Caroline Fredrickson, Director, Research and Publications, International Labour Organization (ILO); José Luis Castro, Director-General Special Envoy for Chronic Respiratory Diseases, World Health Organization (WHO); Dr Maria Neira, Commissioner, Our Common Air; Professor Bettina Borisch, CEO, World Federation of Public Health Associations; Alison Cox, Policy and Advocacy Director, NCD Alliance; Dr Jagat Narula, President, World Heart Federation; Omnia El Omrani, Vice-Chair, Global Climate and Health Alliance.