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Real estate and other industry leaders recently participated in the first White House Summit on Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) as part of the Biden administration’s continued focus on the benefits of healthy buildings in the pandemic era. (Summit video, Oct. 12 and International WELL Building Institute, Oct. 13)
Building Owner “Pledge”
- The summit included a website launch inviting businesses to participate in the Clean Air in Buildings Challenge, an initiative announced by the administration earlier this year. (Roundtable Weekly, March 18, 2022)
- The Challenge encourages building owners and managers to sign a pledge to:
- Create a clean indoor air “action plan” (e.g., regular HVAC inspections and maintenance)
- Optimize fresh air ventilation (e.g., use economizers, open operable windows)
- Enhance air filtration (e.g., install MERV-13 filters)
- Communicate IAQ practices with building occupants
- Speakers at the summit included Silverstein Properties’ Chief Innovation Officer Guy Vardi and Dr. Joseph Allen, Healthy Buildings Program Director at Harvard University. Roundtable President Jeffrey DeBoer interviewed Dr. Allen at the height of the COVID-19 lockdown. (Roundtable Weekly, May 8, 2020 | Watch the video interview)
Agency Developments
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released a Request for Information to solicit feedback from industry, researchers, and the public on key characteristics and measures of improved ventilation, filtration, and air cleaning in buildings. Comments are due by Dec. 5, 2022.
In other news, the Securities and Exchange Commission will reportedly delay by “months” its release of a long-anticipated final rule on corporate climate disclosures. (Bloomberg Law, Oct. 19) The agency continues to assess the legality of its proposal under recent U.S. Supreme Court case law and sift through more than 14,000 comments received from the public—including input provided by The Roundtable and other CRE groups in June. (Roundtable Weekly, Sept. 16 and June 10)
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