“Very few people realize that in closed spaces — irrespective of whether you’re in India, or the U.S., or Europe — you will still have [indoor air quality] problems unless you’re actually actively remediating them,” says Barun Aggarwal, CEO of Breathe Easy Consultants.

He explains that as air quality becomes an integral part of green building standards like LEED, it is leading people to realize that air quality can directly impact our health.

Managing indoor air quality is an important part of operating a LEED building. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, USGBC outlined existing LEED strategies and resources to help guide teams in improving indoor environments. Then, USGBC released new LEED Safety First pilot credits for buildings in response to COVID-19. These pilot credits offer best practices aligning with public health and industry guidance, including ones on indoor air quality.