A unified framework for global indoor air quality: transitioning from guidelines to actionable open regulatory standards

Indoor air quality (IAQ) is a global public health issue that affects people regardless of age, geography, or socioeconomic status. Today, no single cohesive global IAQ standard exists. Despite the United Nations (UN) declaration of human rights to clean air (2022) current guidelines vary widely, leaving governments, industry, building managers, and residents without consistent, actionable benchmarks. A unified framework is proposed by the organization Global Open Air Quality Standards (GO AQS) in this paper for an IAQ regulatory pathway which is called Global Open Indoor Air Quality Standards (GO IAQS). Although the World Health Organization (WHO) has maintained since 1987 guidelines that outdoor standards apply indoors, the most prominent air quality targets focus on ambient pollutants due to a relative lack of indoor data; consequently, these existing frameworks can be insufficient for indoor environments where unique factors, such as the accumulation of human breath, require additional parameters like carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) to serve as markers for ventilation. Fragmented and poorly designed indoor environmental standards often focus on upstream determinants of IAQ, such as ventilation rates, which are challenging to measure, especially if buildings are ventilated naturally, and lack clarity for the public. In contrast, parameters such as CO 2 and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) have been used as accessible metrics for the hundreds of thousands of low-cost monitors globally. Furthermore, outdoor-centric standards rely on long-term averaging windows (e.g., annual or daily limits) primarily intended for high-level planning to manage long-term health risks and drive systemic, year-over-year improvements in air quality. When applied to indoor monitors, these are frequently misinterpreted as real-time ceiling limits. This framework advocates for a strategic shift toward shorter averaging windows and thresholds to safeguard the public indoors. Thresholds are proposed as action levels that trigger immediate responses, such as increasing ventilation, to protect health. We argue that a universal, open-source IAQ standard and index are needed to provide standardized breakpoints for air quality monitors, similar to the outdoor air quality index (AQI). This transparent, expert-informed initiative can provide policymakers with the regulatory clarity required to protect populations from acute and chronic health impacts and is expected to enhance resilience against indoor chemical hazards and airborne diseases.