To have a team of researchers in Poland say that polluted air may be chipping away at women’s ability to have children is like plunging a dagger through hope. To learn that breathing dirtier air may reduce the number of eggs a woman has left, leads to despair, given the fact that our cities regularly exceed recommended air-quality limits, in the words of the researchers.

Air quality expert, Sotirios Papathanasiou, focusing on men’s health, says oxidative damage in sperm leads to DNA fragmentation. He goes on to state in grave detail how poor IAQ might be a cause of infertility in men, in the first place, and that successful conception might not be enough, for poor air quality could have already done the damage, manifesting in the lead up to child birth, in the form of pre-natal mortality and, after delivery, in the form of birth defects.

IVF expert, Dr Nahed Hammadieh and air filtration expert, Dr Iyad Al-Attar add a different dimension by focusing on sandstorms and how they are contributing to poor reproductive health, unless the HVAC industry and allied sectors, including the buildings sector, intervene with intent and urgency to prevent a ticking timebomb from exploding.

No fear-mongering, this.

For molecular geneticist, James Webb to say that air pollution is a pervasive environmental determinant of health, and to specify that pollutants like PM₂.₅, PM₁₀, nitrogen oxides, ozone, Volatile Organic Compounds and ultrafine particles have been implicated in impaired gamete quality and embryo development, is as powerful a spotlight as any on the indispensable nature of our pursuit for better Indoor Air Quality (IAQ).

Clinical Embryologist, Areej Abu Farha, reinforces Webb’s evidential statement when she says embryos, particularly in their earliest stages, are among the most sensitive cellular structures handled in medicine in an IVF procedure, and that they need the purest air, among other equally critical variables, to mimic the ideal conditions of the fallopian tubes and uteruses.

Webb and Abu Farha have essentially set the scene and the pace for the HVAC industry to respond with greater intent and structure to ensure the success of IVF procedures. There are two broader brush strokes needed on the canvas, though. The first is the need for a change in mindset that energy efficiency and IAQ deserve equal footing in new-builds and existing buildings. The second is that this is not just about IVF but about broader reproductive health, which means addressing not just specialised structures like hospitals, clinics and laboratories but also schools, universities, residences and workplaces.

CCME September 2025 (v1)

CCME September 2025 (v1)

As mentioned the last time around, this issue of the magazine marks the beginning of the Editorial Campaign, ‘IEQ & Fertility. And we at Climate Control Middle East can already feel the rush of excitement, given the assemblage of some of the most renowned specialists in the fields of fertility and air filtration.

Over the years – and we are nearing 20 as a magazine – we have conducted weighty editorial campaigns, including on District Cooling, IEQ (in schools and healthcare) and the ongoing one on refrigerants. IEQ & Fertility is special, because reproductive health is an intensely emotional issue.

Given the importance, we want to go as deep as possible in unearthing insights that we hope shape new thinking on how to go about creating healthy living spaces across country-wide portfolio of building types.

As readers, as stakeholders, we would like you to go beyond consuming the information presented in IEQ & Fertility; as with any healthy interaction, we would like you to participate in the discussion by coming forward and sharing your thoughts and experiences. Working on multiple building profiles over the years would have given you the kind of granular knowledge and in depth understanding of practical challenges, which in turn would have triggered the impulse to seek out solutions. We would like you to present those solutions towards the desired outcome of applying the most sophisticated approaches across different building types to improve reproductive health.

At the risk of stating the obvious, the classification of buildings is as much based on their age as on their use. For long, the focus of retrofitting efforts in existing buildings has been on energy efficiency, for a large part. True, to aspire for greater energy efficiency aligns with the global aim of reducing the emission of greenhouse gases and, from an economic standpoint, lowering the Total Cost of Ownership, but IEQ can no longer be ignored. We closely experienced the havoc COVID-19 wreaked on our lives. While the pandemic was a profound, intense and highly visible drama that attained epic proportions, fertility-related challenges don’t register as much on radar screens but are no less in importance, as are the impacts of poor IEQ on numerous other aspects of health.

It, therefore, falls upon each one of us to embrace building performance wholly. Sophisticated societies are built on the foundations of plurality.

CCME July 2025 (v2)

My team and I at Climate Control Middle East have allowed for the article to appear in this issue, in the best traditions of fair and objective gatekeeping. Our permitting it a place is not an indication of any bias; it is, in fact, an invitation for a healthy discussion, and we are happy to allow an equal magazine space in the very next issue for the other camp to respond.

Moving on, this issue is home to yet another set of articles on refrigerants, under the campaign ‘Refrigerants Review’. We have not one but three manufacturers holding court on topics they feel so strongly about, and we ask you to read through and share your views. That way, we progress towards what ought to be an acceptable and climate-friendly ecosystem.

This issue is home to the inaugural edition of another editorial campaign, called ‘IEQ and Fertility’. It is as emotive a topic as refrigerants and involves the coming together of multiple disciplines in the fields of healthcare and engineering.

The campaign, expected to run for at least six months, will be an opportunity to probe the multiple aspects of the topic and to share granular insights – all leading to a set of outcomes, which we hope will benefit humanity in ways unimaginable.

We ask each and every one of you to give us the luxury of time and attention and to set aside cynicism as we endeavour to present the vast science of specialised knowledge for you to make informed decisions at the time of planning any built environment, for fertility as a goal cannot be achieved only in the sterile spaces of healthcare facilities.

CCME July 2025 (v2)

CCME June 2025 (v1)

CCME May 2025 (v1)