Abstract

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are a diverse group of carbon-based chemicals that readily evaporate at ambient temperatures and are released from a wide range of indoor sources, including building materials, adhesives, paints, cleaning agents, furnishings and consumer products. There are case studies mentioned about IAQ showing different items causing indoor pollution. In modern, airtight buildings, especially those designed for energy efficiency, VOCs can accumulate to levels that significantly compromise Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). Prolonged exposure to VOCs indoors has been linked to a range of health effects, from eye irritation and headaches to more serious outcomes such as respiratory illness, neurological symptoms and cancer. Despite their ubiquity and toxicity, VOCs remain underregulated and poorly monitored in both building codes and environmental health policies. While much research focuses on the outdoor atmospheric role of VOCs, their indoor emissions are often neglected in climate models and economic assessments, leading to a systemic underestimation of their broader environmental burden. VOCs emitted indoors can migrate outdoors, contributing to ground-level ozone and Secondary Organic Aerosol (SOA) formation, pollutants that influence both urban air quality and climate change. Yet, few policy frameworks fully account for these linkages or reflect the hidden costs of poor IAQ in terms of healthcare expenditures, lost productivity and environmental degradation. This review explores the dual impact of indoor VOCs as both a public health hazard and a climate-relevant pollutant. It critically examines how indoor VOC emissions are (or are not) represented in existing climate and economic models and highlights significant gaps in current measurement techniques, regulatory standards and modeling practices. Ultimately, the study calls for an interdisciplinary, IAQ-focused approach to VOC regulation that integrates emissions data into climate policy, building design and sustainable urban planning.

Keywords:Indoor Air Quality (IAQ); Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs); Climate change; Sick Building Syndrome (SBS); Indoor environmental health; Secondary Organic Aerosols (SOAs); HVAC systems; Public health policy

Table of Abbreviations: VOCs: Volatile Organic Compounds; IAQ: Indoor Air Quality; SBS: Sick Building Syndrome; BRI: Building-Related Illness; HVAC: Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning; SOAs: Secondary Organic Aerosols; EPFRs: Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals; PM: Particulate Matter