Combining indoor air quality and energy initiatives creates value

Indoor air quality is emerging as a commercial and regulatory priority for real estate owners, with growing evidence that combining air quality monitoring with energy management can improve tenant retention, asset performance, and financial outcomes, according to Jan-Kristian Westerlund, chief commercial officer at freesi.

Speaking to Real Asset Media at EXPO Real 2025, Westerlund said indoor air quality has historically been under-appreciated in property investment, but is now gaining prominence following the Covid-19 pandemic and Europe’s energy crisis.

“It’s a topic that is relatively new, so it needs more awareness,” he said. “However, after Covid and the energy crisis, it has increased in need through regulation.”

Westerlund pointed to the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, which will require indoor air quality monitoring and control in non-residential buildings across the EU. He said this regulatory shift has significantly accelerated adoption among property owners and managers.

“The new Energy Performance of Buildings Directive is now requiring implementation of indoor air quality monitoring and control in all non-residential assets,” he said. “This has increased the awareness tremendously.”

Freesi works with a broad range of real estate stakeholders, from commercial portfolio owners to cities and municipalities, with its technology now used by more than 100 cities. Westerlund said the company’s focus extends beyond data collection to ensuring that insights are understood and acted on across organisations.

“It’s about the people adopting, learning how to use the technology, and using it to make improvements for air quality in buildings,” he said.

This requires engagement across the entire ownership and management chain, from facilities teams and tenants to asset managers and portfolio owners responsible for financial performance.

“We work a lot with the stakeholders, from properties to facilities managers, to the actual tenants, to the asset managers who are commercially responsible for the buildings, and to portfolio owners who make them as financial products,” he said.

While indoor air quality monitoring is increasingly driven by regulation, Westerlund said clients remain focused on commercial outcomes. Many landlords are integrating indoor climate management alongside heating, ventilation, and cooling optimisation to ensure that energy savings do not come at the expense of occupant health.

“Whenever they’re doing energy management on heating, ventilation, and cooling, they will always implement indoor climate management to bring the safeguard that they never do it [while] compromising the health, well-being, and comfort of the people inside the buildings,” he said.

Improved air quality also supports tenant engagement and retention, which Westerlund described as a critical driver of asset-level financial performance.

“Through better tenant engagement and satisfaction, the landlords are able to retain their tenants for a longer time,” he said. “This, of course, is critical for the finances of the assets.”

On the investment side, Westerlund said decision-making is increasingly data-driven, with financial metrics central to adoption.

“Our decision makers are financial decision makers, so they need to see the numbers,” he said. “They need to see the net operating income, how it changes from this. They need to see how long is the payback time for implementing this.”

At the same time, freesi also works closely with sustainability teams, particularly where indoor air quality data supports reporting on social and health-related ESG metrics.

“This is a perfect way of making it tangible in an area that is otherwise a little bit difficult for real estate managers,” Westerlund said.